Family Jewels
by Mangascribbler
Summary: "Oh, how like the Last Supper this is," Aizen laughed into the silence, "When Jesus announced that he knew which of the others at his table would betray him to the law! Now…. Which one of you is my 'Judas?"
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, this is your friendly Mangascribbler here, posting a story requested by yellowmellowonthewall… although I don't technically ship this pairing, I'll admit, they are fun to write about. For this story I will be posting on Saturdays… I really hope everyone enjoys this; give me some feedback if you would! Thanks for reading, Ciao! **

**Mellow, you better leave me a review after all the crap you gave me about getting this posted! *3***

Starting with a Bang

-May 22, 22:41, Karakura Museum-

The first thing that someone reviewing the footage of the Museum security tapes might have noticed was a slight tapping sound, an echo of footsteps, and a slight golden gleam that shone from the farthest corner of the room before the glint revealed itself to be a pair of eyes before disappearing back into the shadows. But no one reviewed the footage, as the next thing that happened was the sudden failure of the electronics- security cameras included- throughout the building. The first hint that something was amiss.

"Did the camera stop working?" a voice crackled out of the earpiece that was clipped safely to the side of the young man's head as he crept around the side of the pillar where he had concealed himself. His rubber-soled shoes made hardly any sound against the white marble flooring of the city museum as he stepped into the moonlight, black braid swinging behind him as he sauntered forward confidently.

"Everything's out," he murmured in reply.

"Good. Look…" a pause for a sigh; the voice shook slightly as it continued, "Listen, what we're doing…. Just don't screw up, alright? This is our last chance."

"I got it Tesla," the man hissed as he approached his target, "just shut up and stop buzzing in my ear like a fly, jeez!"

"Our last chance," the voice repeated, and the earpiece went dead as the man at the other end hung up.

…..

Across the building, a second form slipped silently through the high window, dropping noiselessly to the floor so far below, rising like a shadow brought to life. Dark brown irises shone in a delicate face that was set in cold determination as the slight woman crept across the room to where she knew riches awaited her. Two thin plaits swung behind her, and her resemblance to the first of the uninvited guests in the history hall was shocking, but as of yet unknown. The pair had yet to notice the presence of one another.

The woman in question, unlike the man, had brought her partner with her, although the third thief lay in wait, holding a getaway car out front. The sleek black convertible, painted with violet fire, fit the woman in it perfectly. An exotic beauty with purple hair lit her cigarette and waited for her slender friend with patience belied by her twitching fingers as they tapped the dashboard rapidly. It was their last shot, this job. Their last shot to make it big and to make it so that neither of them would ever have to work again.

The woman in the building glanced back at the window. Did she hear police sirens? Well, they were far away, and she had a job to do; she went back to the task at hand. It was strange, that no alarms had gone off… and looking at the ceiling, there was no telltale blink of video cameras. She was either incredibly lucky, or the security in the museum was stupidly lax.

She stepped forward, again, coming closer to her prize. It was in a glass case, but that would be little protection against the glass cutter she had brought to access the horde of precious gems inside, a treasure that had belonged to some king or other, but who gave a damn? To her they were just a few expensive rocks…

Something shifted in the shadows on the other side of the case, and in a fraction of a second, two guns pointed at the face opposite of them, clicking as they were cocked at the same time. Both faces remained hidden but for their eyes, the light of the moon and the deep shadow playing havoc with both thieves' sight.

"This is mine, bitch," a low male voice bit out at the woman across from him. She noticed that his face was painted liberally with blacking, "I've had my sights on these for a long time. Go find something else to pocket… a nice necklace to fit that pretty face of yours."

"I was here first, pig," the woman shot back, only half as quiet, "If you want to steal something, _you _can go get something else. Ever heard of 'ladies first'?"

"I'm not really into the whole 'chivalry' deal, lady," the man's voice was rising as well, "And you weren't here first. If you had been, you would have been caught, seeing as I was the one who hacked the security system. Also, this doesn't exactly work on a 'first come first serve' basis, now does it?"

"Shut up and get out of my way before I put a hole bigger than your mouth in your face," the woman spat coldly.

"You smell of cigarette smoke… don't you know smoking kills? Maybe I should put a hole in your neck to help you _breathe_!" The man pulled the trigger, and the woman flinched, only to realize that it hadn't gone off. The man's laughter rang off the walls, neither person making any pretense at silence now. Had they been a little quieter, they may have noticed the whooping of police sirens closing in with alarming rapidity.

"Not even loaded!" he snickered, "Now run home little mouse, before you wet your shorts!"

"You…." The woman raged. There was a sudden crack, and she jumped again. The man lowered his gun, having loaded it and raised the barrel to her face again in the blink of an eye.

"You ever done this before, lady?" he sighed, "You're awful slow to shoot."

"I've done this plenty of times. And I'm not slow, you're trigger happy," she scowled.

"Maybe so," she caught a glimmer of white in the shadow as the man flashed a quick grin that dropped away in an instant, "But I'd rather be trigger-happy than dead. Seriously," he leaned on top of the case nonchalantly asserting his claim, the gun he held loose in his hand, "I've worked too hard to be chased off by a woman."

"Are you saying a woman couldn't stop you?" she snapped at him, growing genuinely furious at the slight to her gender.

"I'll admit," the man sighed, "I have a weakness for pretty women, but between you and me…" he lowered his voice to a mock confidential whisper, "I don't think I would go for someone as uptight as you!"

"You bastard!" she snarled, finding herself looking down the barrel of his gun a second time.

"Maybe so," he repeated with another quick smile, "But this gun _is _loaded, and you _are _at my mercy now, so calling names like grade schoolers won't do us much good. Now back off like a nice little mouse, won't you? I don't like killing women. Makes me feel a bit guilty, ya know?"

"Oh shut _up!_" the woman shouted at him, knocking his gun aside. She loosed a stream of curses and he matched her pace without losing that domineering smirk of his for even a second.

A pair of guards ran by, escaping their notice as they continued to hurl insults, the man keeping his gun in hand despite the smile on his face. The guards halted, and turned to face the pair.

"Are… these the two we're looking for?" the guard on the left asked, nudging his friend.

"If they are, they're either really confident or really dumb, you think they'd keep quieter if they were thieves…. But one of them _is _wearing gloves and blacking, so…"

"Only one way to find out!" the first man cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, "Hey! You two! What are you doing over there?!"

"Sh-it!" the male burglar, who had been backing away from the woman as she put her fists up; she looked like she knew how to use them. He whipped around, his long braid smacking the woman in the face as he shot once, twice, three times at the security guards. A scream rewarded the man, and the guard who had shouted went down, holding his stomach with blood pumping over his fingers.

The sound of shouting, sirens, and a woman screaming abuses came through the window at the other end, finally finding audience in the pair.

"Yorichi!" the woman cried, sounding horrified, and running back the way she had come. A hand gripped her wrist tightly, pulling her to a stop. Behind them there was a crackle of a speaker as the uninjured security guard yelled a report into a walkie-talkie that had been clipped to his belt.

"You wanna get caught too? What are you, stupid?" the man whispered to her as he dragged her close to him. She wrinkled her nose; he smelled of alcohol.

"I can't leave her there, she's my friend! She was meant to be my getaway driver! I let her down!"

"Oh shut up," the man sighed, running the opposite way which she struggled to go, stepping around the prone figure on the floor and dodging a blow from the second dark form on his way to the door, "Look," he snapped a little breathlessly as they ran, "As long as one of you is free, there's always a chance at a jail break or bail; you both get caught, and you're screwed for life, you hear me?"

The woman didn't reply, merely biting her tongue when she was slung into the back of a black motorcycle that had decal claw marks down the side, and a rash of bullet holes that were unfortunately _not _stickers.

"Here we go," the man breathed, squealing the tires as he blew his way out of the parking lot at the back of the museum. The woman behind him held back a squeak of shock and gripped him around the waist tightly. A few bullets whistled by, one taking out the side mirror. The man driving swore loudly, adding: "I just got that damn thing fixed! I swear, _every _time… well, at least Tesla can't take it off with his car door this time…"

After only a minute or so, the howl of police sirens rose behind them. The woman cursed under her breath as the man's braid whipped her in the face for a fourth time, and then chanced a look back. Three cop cars, gaining quickly.

"We've got trouble!" she called over the screaming cacophony of slipstream wind and sirens.

"Hold on tight, lady," the man called over his shoulder, "And lean the way I do, when I do!"

The woman caught a disconcerting gleam of gold from his face for a fraction of a second before she was distracted by a sudden increase of speed. The motorcycle roared and wove between the nighttime traffic. The number of times that they were almost crushed between bumpers was lost on the woman, but the police cars fell steadily behind until the motorcycle whipped around a corner. It would only be a minute until the authorities came into view again, the woman thought solemnly, and they could only keep swerving between lanes for so long.

The man up ahead suddenly jerked the handlebars, and the bike's tires shrieked against the asphalt as the motorcycle whipped around at almost a ninety degree angle and fishtailed for an instant before roaring into a thin alley between buildings. The woman watched in horror as the bike tore toward an old bum in the alley, but the motorcycle screeched by with an inch to spare.

The sirens died away behind them as the man navigated a maze of alleyways. At last the growl of the engine slowed, and went into a low whine. The bike sagged to the side as the man put his foot down against the cracked concrete in front of the back door to what seemed to be a bar. A 'closed' sign glowed a dull red in the window, beside a neon advertisement for Coors Light beer and a card that showed the hours and asked customers to use the front entrance. A hand written sign was propped in the window which read, 'Ggio, if it's past midnight you can sleep in the alley' with an angry looking emoticon drawn on the side.

"Could you let go?" the man grunted, sounding out of breath, "Not that I mind having your boobs pressed against my back, but I would like my lungs back."

The woman snorted in disgust at his comment and hopped lithely off the bike. The man dropped the kickstand and flashed a glance at her, too quickly for a good look at his face before he said: "Come inside," and turned away.

She followed him blankly, still unsure of what had happened, and her heart aching for Yorichi.

"Tesla," the man called, "I'm back," he walked away to another room grumbling, "Damn am I thirsty… ugh, and I have _got _to wash this shit off…." Moments later there was clattering and then the sound of running water from the far back.

"Ggio!" a blonde man in an apron stepped out from the taproom, a wet glass in one hand and a rag in the other. The woman was slightly surprised by his appearance; his short, sandy blond hair was unkempt and stuck up at strange angles. An eye patch covered his right eye, his remaining orb a bright brown with a strange hard meekness. Strangest of all was the green tattoo on his face, a rectangle that dashed from his jawline to his cheekbone on one side. Upon catching sight of her, however, his gentle gaze became virulent and he shouted over his shoulder without looking away, "You brought home another one of your whores, didn't you? I thought I told you if you did that again I'd throw you out! Have fun sleeping in a box, I'm sick and tired having to listen to you and your women having-"

He stopped speaking as quickly as he had started, his eyes almost crossing as he tried to keep sight of the gun barrel pressed to his forehead.

"I am not a hooker, barman," the woman hissed, her dark eyes bright with fury.

"Of course n-not," the man called Tesla gave a nervous laugh, "Because, you know, prostitutes don't usually carry a Glock in their back pocket…"

The man she had come back with walked out of the back room, an open and half gone beer in one hand, a second, closed bottle in the other. A towel, smeared with the blacking he had wiped from his face, hung around his neck. He sat at one of the tables and kicked his feet up, taking a long draught of alcohol and ignoring the scene at the door.

"So your name is Ggio," the woman said flatly, no question in her tone.

The man smiled, and she got a good look at his face this time. Slanted, almond shaped eyes set in an angular face gave him distinctly feline features. His ochre irises shone around slightly slitted pupils, and his smile was made dangerous by the presence of two abnormally sharp canine teeth that would have been called 'shark teeth' in the dentistry business, and would have been prescribed filing. His hair was long, and wrapped into a braid that fell almost to the floor from the back of the chair.

"Ggiovanni Christian Miguel Ortiz-Vega," the man grinned, raising the open beer as if in a toast to himself, "in the flesh. And you, lady?"

"Soi Fon," the woman answered in a tone like a blizzard, "Just Soi Fon."

"Glad to meet you my little bee," Ggio sighed, finishing up the first bottle he had brought and opening up the second to take a swallow.

"Call me by my name," Soi Fon snapped.

"Can I please have this gun out of my face?" Tesla asked uncomfortably.

He was ignored.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry that this is about twelve hours late… this got less of a response than I hoped?  
Well, maybe it's because this pairing is vaguely unpopular :P**

Strike a Deal?

"Well, welcome to our establishment, little bee," the man who had introduced himself as Ggio said warmly.

"I said call me by my name," the 'little bee' hissed, finally removing her gun from where it had been pressed against Tesla's forehead and tucking it back in its holster, but keeping it loose just in case. She didn't trust the man with black hair as far as she could throw him. _He _was the one who had almost gotten her caught over something stupid, and thanks to _him_, Yorichi was on her way to prison even as the three of them stood around in the dim taproom. Although, she supposed, he _did _get her out of her own capture, and he didn't deserve all the blame for her partner's arrest; after all, if she had just shot him in the face like he deserved, she had Yorichi would be on a plane to South America with the gems, leaving behind a body at the scene of the crime. She sighed internally. Too late to kill him now…

She watched Ggio down half the bottle of his second beer, his gaze slightly out of focus as he stared at the opposite wall. Tesla cleared his throat as he rubbed the slight imprint between his eyebrows in the awkward silence that had settle over the room, and Ggio turned his golden gaze to his blonde friend, who had his hand held out expectantly.

"What?" the thief wondered.

"Well?" Tesla asserted with a hopeful smile that barely failed to mask the ugly desperation and fear in his eyes. Soi Fon didn't miss that look, and wondered what the two of them had had riding on the success of the job that would never be completed.

There was a silence as Ggio swirled the contents of his bottle noncommittally. Tesla tried hard not to look like he was falling apart, but it was a poorly fought battle, and Soi Fon noticed how panicked he was becoming.

"I didn't get it," the black haired man said flatly. Tesla stood stock still for almost thirty seconds before he loosed an incredulous laugh, staggering over to the bar and holding onto it for support as he passed a hand over his face.

"What?" he laughed again, a slightly hysterical sound, "Ggio…. You know what this means?" Ggio shifted his gaze to the floor absently without intent to answer, but Tesla didn't wait for a reply anyway. His voice rose and became filled with a terrified and helpless fury, "It _means_, my friend, it _means_ we're fucked! Completely and totally screwed! Do you _hear me_?!"

Tesla gripped the tankard he had been cleaning when Soi Fon had entered the bar and threw it as hard as he could at Ggio. The mug whipped by his face with less than a centimeter to spare and shattered against the back wall, shards of glass spinning in the air like shrapnel from a frag grenade.

"They're going to kill us when they find out what we did! We're going to die! That's our only option, unless you want to leave the country! That'd be _fine _for you, with no real job, no commitments or ties, but I'm not _like_ you! I can't just pick up and go! I have a business, a family, I'm an information broker! That kind of work takes time to build trust! And what about Menoly?! What am I supposed to do, leaver her behind? Well?!" His voice had risen hysterically, and Soi Fon could see terrible anger in his eyes, a glittering gauze of fury over the deep-seated fear.

When Ggio couldn't present an answer, Tesla reigned in his breathing, which had almost become hyperventilating with the force of his emotion, hugging himself.

"I…. I guess… I," he said incoherently, before giving a shaky chuckle and turning away, "I guess I'll go check the cost of tickets back to Spain,"

"Shut up," Ggio said quietly after Tesla had already left, "I know, alright?" He stared at his bottle of alcohol thoughtfully before downing the rest of it and standing up. His eyes focused on Soi Fon's face, and he seemed to remember that she was there, having forgotten in the tide of words, and glass, thrown at him by Tesla.

"Want something to drink?" he asked her vaguely. When she shook her head, he made a second trip to the back room and returned with what would be his third bottle of alcohol for the night. She wondered briefly if he was an alcoholic. She felt a shiver of revulsion at this thought. She hated alcoholics for their weakness, and she had, ever since she had been old enough to understand hatred.

Her father had been a terrible drinker, often coming home from work drunk and beating Soi Fon's mother and five older siblings, depending on who he reached first. Soi Fon, back then only called Shaolin by her family, had hidden in the cupboards beneath the sink and watched fearfully through a peephole. She soon equated the smell of liquor with agony, blood, and tears.

Once her mother had had enough, she left her husband and children and fled. Soi Fon hated her as well, for her self-centered panic, because after she left, her husband killed two of her children by accident in one of his drunken rages. Soi Fon's oldest brother ran away from home, her oldest sister was killed; the second born son was taken by a family member, the third oldest son succumbing to injuries of his beating. That left just Soi Fon, and the sister directly above her in age.

Her sister killed herself by hanging in the attic, unable to cope with daily pain. Soi Fon couldn't cope either, but she had a different approach to removing the hurt.

She learned at age fourteen what arsenic could do to a man.

All this and more flashed through her head as Ggio sat down across from the seat she had taken at the table, opening his drink.

"Man," he sighed taking a sip, "I really screwed up. Big time."

"What did you two need those for anyway?" Soi Fon questioned, referencing the gems they had left behind.

"Ah," Ggio's words were slightly slurred, "We're… in debt."

"Debt?" Soi Fon raised an eyebrow, "Like, to a bank?"

Ggio's laughter rang in the room just as it had in the museum, "If only it were that easy, little bee."

"Soi Fon."

"… Soi Fon, then," he corrected himself moodily, taking another drink, "But no, not to the bank…"

"Then who?" she pried. He simply shook his head, looking unhappy. Soi Fon slapped the table with the flat of her hand, causing him to look at her, "I have a proposal for you."

His gaze suddenly cleared, and it occurred to her that he wasn't as drunk as he made out to be as his golden eyes took back that sly, calculating look as easily as it had been shed, "Concerning?"

"The jewels," she told him.

"I don't make cuts more than 60-40, my way," he told her pointedly.

"Not that kind of deal. A trade," she watched as his face darkened for a moment.

"What?"

"I'll help you get what you need…" she began.

"But?"

"Not 'but', more of an 'if'. I'll help you get what you need, _if_ you help me get Yorichi out of jail. Only _after _she's out will I do _anything_ for you." Soi Fon made it perfectly clear that there was no room for discussion with her eyes. Ggio pressed his fingertips together thoughtfully, and furrowed his thin, feline eyebrows.

"I have connections," he said after a moment of thought, "That can help us get your friend out of jail. Here's the thing though… we can't do it legally. There's probably a heavy amount of evidence pointing at her… and I have to ask, is there a chance that she'll sell you out to shorten her own sentence?"

"None," Soi Fon answered confidently. The day Yorichi sold her out would be the day that hell froze over, thawed, went through global warming and froze again.

"Good," he said with a sharp smile, "Then we have a deal. _But_," he added, "You have to follow a couple conditions."

"They are?"

"One, you need to live here. We have extra rooms, and if you want you can use Menoly's until she gets back."

Soi Fon mentally filed away that name. So far all that she could gather from context was that she was someone important to the bartender Tesla. She narrowed her eyes at the man across from her, but she could understand his wanting her to stay. He wanted to keep an eye on her and make sure that she didn't double cross him.

"Two, you'll have to put up with my… ah… acquaintances, shall we say? My connections can be a little rough around the edges, but they have their uses." He continued, ticking off the numbers on his fingers, "And three, there may be some days you'll have to run the bar with us. For cover purposes, because it gets suspicious when there are jobless people bumming around the same place for a long time and not running out of money."

"Fine," Soi Fon answered, "But in return I have a condition of my own,"

Ggio raised his eyebrows at her.

"I want to know what I'm getting into," she said firmly, "I want to know exactly why you need the money from the jewels, and why you're so desperate."

"Well…" he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly before letting out a long breath, "Fine. Let me just go get Tes."

He stood, swaying, and knocked over his chair. She raised her eyebrows. Mentally he might be less drunk than she had originally thought, but his body betrayed him.

_He's probably used to being plastered,_ she thought, _disgusting._

"Oops," he shrugged, and stumbled his way to the back room, leaning on the doorframe for support. Tesla's face appeared after a minute of the two of them murmuring to each other.

"How much have you had to drink tonight, Ggio?" Tesla asked warily as the black haired man wove his way back to his seat. He took a moment to think, counting his fingers as he did so.

"Um… six drinks?" he said in an uncertain tone.

"That's only your third one," Soi Fon pointed out flatly, "Does being drunk impair your ability to count?"

"Does being sober impair yours? I had a couple of drinks before running the job," Ggio grinned recklessly.

"You drove that motorcycle, with me on it, drunk." Soi Fon growled. If she had died because of his stupidity, she would have found him in Hell and killed him _again_. And if he hadn't died with her had they crashed, she would have haunted him until he _did _die.

"No," he protested, "Not _drunk_… I'm drunk _now_, but not before,"

"You've had enough, I think," Tesla sighed, taking the half finished bottle away from his building mate.

"Ah, hey, I was drinking that…" Ggio complained while Tesla emptied the remaining alcohol into the sink behind the bar, "Well anyways, Tesla's the one in charge of bargaining, not me, so he'll decide how much you should know. He's the brains, and I'm…"

"Ggio's my bouncer," Tesla said, rolling his eyes as he took a seat, "During the day at least. That should give you some idea of his mental capacity… or should I say, he _has _enough intelligence to get whatever he wants, but he chooses to either ignore it or waste it cheating at cards."

Ggio shrugged, but otherwise ignored the accusations.

"So," Tesla asked, folding his hands on the table top, "What do you want to know?"

"Ggio said you two were in debt, and that's why you need the jewels. Debt to _who _exactly? Who am I helping you pay off?"

"Well… the Espada," Tesla said nervously.

"You idiots are in debt to the _mafia_?" Soi Fon asked in disgusted wonder.

"Ermm…" Ggio grunted sleepily, "Sort of? It _is _debt I guess, but not what you're thinking. We owe them something… different… than money."

"Shut up Ggio," Tesla said sharply, his knuckles turning white as he closed his hands tighter around each other, "That's not necessary knowledge." He shot a glance at his friend, saying quietly, "You should go to bed."

"Alright, alright, I get when I'm not wanted!" Ggio said lightly with a smile and stood from his chair, stretching. He winked a Soi Fon, cast a look at Tesla and then waved cheerily as he turned away.

Watching him go, Soi Fon wondered what exactly she had gotten herself into.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey all! This would indeed be chapter 3 of Family Jewels… not much to say other than that! Thanks for reading! ;D**

Behind Locked Doors…

"What was that all about?" Soi Fon asked Tesla sharply, "Not necessary knowledge?"

"For what you're helping us with, no. Ggio told me the deal. We get your friend, you help Ggio get the jewels; what happens after is none of your business." Tesla's eyes were as hard as diamond now, his visage businesslike in the extreme. He had more metal steel than Soi Fon had originally guessed. "Just know that because of who we're dealing with, what you'll be doing will be incredibly dangerous. You want to go through with it?"

Soi Fon thought of Yorichi for an instant before she replied.

"Yes."

Suddenly, from somewhere upstairs, there was a thud and a loud cry.

"SHIT!"

"Ggio?" Tesla called, "What's up?"

The black haired man popped his head over the railing of the wooden stairs, one hand to his face.

"Nothing much. The lights were out and I ran to the doorframe. Hurts like hell!"

"Right…" Tesla answered. Ggio shook his head to clear it a bit, braid whipping around behind him before he went back to his room.

"Is he an alcoholic?" Soi Fon asked without thinking. She had meant to keep that train of thought to herself, but instead had spoken out loud what had been on her mind.

"Ggio…" Tesla sighed, "Ggio drinks under pressure, whether he's stressed or upset in some way; it helps him cope, I suppose. It's just the way he is, or the way he's been since we met, at least."

"And right now? What would you define that mood as? Stressed or upset?"

"Right now… both. He's angry at himself for failing the job, aware of the damage that this might cause me as well as others, probably worried about what will happen to you, stressed out about what may become of the future, and scared of what could become of him if this goes wrong."

"He seems too stupid to have all that in his head at once," Soi Fon said flatly. Tesla laughed.

"Ah, that's mean!"

Soi Fon yawned, and Tesla changed unexpectedly back to a caring host that ran a bar.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you're tired. Let me show you to your room," he said hastily, standing up and untying the black apron he had been wearing over his sweater and slacks.

"Thank you," Soi Fon replied blandly. She would put up with the idiots for as long as she had to. For Yorichi's sake, and her sake alone.

The room she was given was, against Ggio's offer, _not _Menoly's room as far as Soi Fon could tell, unless whoever Menoly was happened to keep her room looking conspicuously like a guest room. The walls were painted a calm shade of beige, and the blankets on the queen sized bed were a deep forest green. The floor was wood, just like the rest of the building, and the room had an attached bathroom. On the other side of the bathroom sink was a separate room with a toilet and bath, and on the back wall opposite the bathroom mirror above the counter was another door that Soi Fon assumed went into a closet for things like towels and other toiletries.

Returning to the main bedroom, she found that Tesla to be gone, but leaving a folded nightgown on the bed in his wake. With a sigh, Soi Fon undressed from her dark clothing and put on the slightly sheer piece of clothing, a button down that reached her knees, with long sleeves adorned with ruffles at the wrist. A small, embroidered 'M' was on the hem of the gown, along with a small bear. The pajamas probably belonged to the one called Menoly, and judging by the attire, Menoly was one of three things: young, childish, or a long time friend of Tesla, probably since childhood.

With that thought, Soi Fon slipped beneath the sheets of the bed she had been provided with and cleared her mind, falling asleep only to be tortured by thoughts of Yorichi and her treatment in a cell.

…..

The next morning Soi Fon was woken by a slanting beam of light that fell through the leaf patterned curtains that hung in front of the small window in her room. She stretched as she rose, still half asleep, and walked toward the bathroom yawning. She opened the door only to be met by none other than Ggio, but sober, shirtless, and with a toothbrush in his mouth.

He looked toward the door, the blue and green Colgate brand brush hanging out of his mouth as stared at her with uncaring gold eyes. Soi Fon momentarily thanked God that the man was at least wearing his pants, albeit unbuttoned and with the fly wide open, before it occurred to her to wonder why the hell he was in her bathroom.

"What are you _doing _in here?!" she cried, picking up a hair brush to throw at him.

He spit in the sink and rinsed his toothbrush before placing it in a little glass jar to keep it upright. He looked at her through the mirror, hands on the counter, "Well, this _is_ my bathroom… so… brushing my teeth like any hygienic human does?"

"_Your_ bathroom?" she asked, still furious at finding him there, "What do you mean _your _bathroom?! My room is right there!" She pointed at the door behind her.

"That's great, mine's right here," he opened the door she had earlier assumed to be a closet and half stepped in before looking back and saying, "That black lace bra you're wearing is pretty sexy by the way. Just thought I'd let you know."

He shut the door.

Soi Fon looked down at herself and realized that one could clearly see her panties through the thin nightgown she wore.

Soi Fon swore to herself, cursing Tesla, Ggio, the situation, and anything else that came to mind as she got ready. Her braids had stayed in during the night, so she ignored her hair. She didn't have any makeup with her, but her face looked okay, so she found a spare toothbrush still in its package in the sink cupboards and brushed her teeth using the tube of toothpaste by the sink. She placed her pink pattered toothbrush beside Ggio's blue one in the jar, making _sure _that the two didn't touch, and went to get dressed in the clothing that had been left to her, swearing to herself that as soon as she was able, she would ask Tesla if there was another room to sleep in, _far _away from the drunken ass.

…

By the time Soi Fon had gotten around to walking downstairs, Ggio was already at a table eating breakfast, a fried egg while reading the news paper he had propped up against the ketchup. He was still shirtless, and deeply engrossed in whatever article that he was reading, so that his face had an almost cute look of concentration on it. Her eyes unintentionally traveled to his bare chest, and she took notice of his lean, scarred body, his tightly woven black braid hanging over his left shoulder. Looking at him, she could almost think he was attractive, but…

She watched as the newspaper distracted him, and he missed his mouth with his fork, dripping egg yolk onto his bare chest.

… But he was a complete idiot.

Even as she thought this, Ggio caught her standing motionless and looking at him from the bottom step. He gave her an almost devious smile.

"Want to lick it off?" he asked, indicating the egg yolk. Soi Fon's face twisted in revulsion at the thought.

"You're sick," she hissed in reply.

"Your loss," he shrugged, still smirking, and proceeded to lick it off himself. Soi Fon shook her head as she walked away, looking for something to eat, and nearly walking into Tesla as he came out of another room, wearing an old ratty t-shirt and a pair of shorts as opposed to the last nights' slacks, button up shirt and apron. Rather than the neat black I eye patch he had worn before, he now had a white patch on, tied around behind his head, giving him a roughish look that almost matched Ggio's natural air of vagabond-ness.

"Good morning," he greeted kindly enough, "did you sleep well?"

"Yes," Soi Fon returned curtly, "Thank you."

She thought of asking why he had not informed her that she would be sharing a bathroom with the drunken idiot, but she refrained. Somehow, letting Ggio know that proximity to him bothered her seemed like losing… and oh, how she _hated _to lose!

"Do you have coffee?" she asked Tesla, a bit pointedly, as if she would be shocked that two bachelors, living alone, would have something so civilized as a coffee maker.

Ggio laughed behind her.

"Of course we have coffee," he snorted, "Tesla _lives _off that stuff! Don't ya, Tes? Hardly drinks anything else…"

"So I have a caffeine addiction," the blonde snapped at his friend, folding his arms, "Better than nicotine, or alcohol!"

"I only have _one _of those problems," Ggio said mildly, "and our lady friend seems to have the other one."

"What?" Soi Fon scowled, "I'm not hooked on _anything._"

"Ahhh, don't lie," Ggio grinned, "You smelled like cigarettes when you showed up."

"That's Yorichi's thing; Cigarettes don't bother me, but I certainly don't smoke them."

"Second hand smoke is bad too," Ggio teased.

"Just shut up."

Tesla walked out of the kitchen that was behind the bar holding a steaming mug.

"Do you like your coffee black? If not, there's cream in the refrigerator and sugar in the top cupboard on the left side." He indicated with his hands while he spoke, then stopped to withdraw a folded slip of paper from his pocket, "I'm going to the grocery store, and Laundromat; I'll be gone for about an hour at the outside latest. Do you need anything?"

"Booze!" Ggio cheered. Tesla shot him a withering glance before returning his gaze to Soi Fon.

"Nothing, thank you," she replied a bit coldly, as was her nature.

"Keh, fine," Ggio pouted, "Have fun running errands. Oh, will you be going out to look for Menoly too?"

Tesla froze, his hand on the doorknob to the back porch. He was silent for a moment before he answered with a flat, "No," and left without another word.

"Hm," the black haired man shrugged discontentedly, "whatever man,"

There was a moment of silence in Tesla's wake, only broken by the sounds of sipping coffee and the tines of the fork clinking against Ggio's plate.

"Where is my underwear?" Soi Fon asked suddenly, and flatly. She watched as a shimmering rainbow was formed by the mist-fine droplets of orange juice that sprayed out of Ggio's mouth.

"E-excuse me?" he coughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You heard me," the black haired woman said coldly, "I was wondering if you had any intention of giving them back."

"I don't have them, and I have no idea where they are," the young man answered, looking weirded out.

"Where else would they have gone? I did not deem Tesla to be the pervert in this household."

"Look lady," Ggio said, standing up and carrying his plate to the sink, "I was totally blotto last ni… wait, does that mean you're… ya know, _commando_ right now?"

"That's none of your business! What does it matter if you were drunk anyway?" Soi Fon snapped, "They disappeared this morning!"

"I couldn't even open my own bedroom door," Ggio bit back, "I'm telling you, I had nothing to do with this. I woke up, brushed my teeth, and walked downstairs. Didn't even _look _at your door, let alone go in and take your underwear. I told you last night that I would _never _go for someone as uptight as you, and you just reinforced that. You know what? I bet you're still a virgin."

"So what if I am? Better than being a walking STD emporium like you," she lashed at him. Ggio's eyes narrowed.

"I'd be happy to tell you that I am disease free," he snorted.

"I'm not letting you alone until I find out where my _only _pair of underwear that I have here went!"

Ggio sighed.

"Ahh… screw it, it's too early for this shit," he muttered, turning his back to the angry woman and walking to the door.

"Don't walk away while I'm talking to you," Soi Fon reprimanded, "Like I said, I'm not leaving you alone!"

"I'd be happy hearing that from any woman but you," Ggio called over his shoulder.

"You-!" the door slammed behind Soi Fon as she followed the shirtless man into the small yard in front of the bar. The dirty sidewalks were virtually empty, and the grass was full of dandelions and clover. All the same, the grime gave the bar an almost quaint look, like a used and filthy stuffed animal… except that around the bar there lurked an obviously adult air, not at all like a child's toy.

"Well," Ggio huffed, "While we're out here, I might as well show you where our mailbox is. It's numbered and locked in that gray box over there…"

"I don't-"

"Huh… guess I left my keys inside…" the man mumbled, walking back to the entrance. He paused. Wiggled the door handle. Paused again. He now leaned his whole weight against the door and pushed.

"Fuck."

"What?" Soi Fon asked, although she thought she already knew the answer.

"The door," Ggio said, "has an automatic lock. I usually keep my keys in my pockets, but these pants have holes…"

"Don't tell me…"

"The keys are inside," he finished with a blank look on his face, "We're locked outside… and all I have on are a pair of holey old jeans and my socks."

"That's the least of my worries! My wallet is in there! I can't even leave to go buy something!"

"Screw that, if we had money we could call Tes on a pay phone or something!"

"What are we going to do _now_?" Soi Fon's voice was dripping with scorn and aggravation, "Of course, we wouldn't be _in _this mess if _someone _had just confessed to taking my underwear."

"Oh for God's sake… I did _not _take your chonies! And I guess, as for what to do…. Bonding time?" Ggio gave a halfhearted smile that was answered by an icy glare from his companion.

"Shit," she muttered disgustedly, "Isn't there a back door?"

"Well yeah," Ggio gestured to the sides of the building with a sweep of his arm, "If you feel like trying to jump that wall to get into the alley that is otherwise about half a mile away. I'm not walking through the gutters, I'm in socks and having glass in the bottoms of my feet doesn't sound like fun at the moment."

"Well I don't have _anything_ on my feet, not even socks."

"So we can't get around back."

"We can jump the wall."

"What? That thing is like, ten feet! We can't even reach the top!"

"No, listen," Soi Fon said shortly, catching his attention, "Only one of us needs to get in; I'll sit on your shoulders to climb over, go in the back, and open the door."

"How do I know you won't just go in through the back and leave me outside?" Ggio asked suspiciously, gold eyes glinting in the dim sunlight of the overcast morning.

"You'll just have to take your chances," she answered, "It's either that or sit out here doing nothing until Tesla gets back."

"Fine, fine," the man conceded with a sigh, "Come here then."

The two of them took nearly half an hour to get maneuvered in such a way so that Ggio was lifting Soi Fon into a sitting position on his shoulders, her thighs on either side of his head and his hands holding her in place. She noticed first that his hands had a rough texture to them, with a smooth patch on the palm of the left hand like a burn scar. She then noticed exactly where his hands were.

Looking down at him and taking her eyes away from her grip she hissed, "I know what you're thinking, you dirty pervert, but if your hands move _an inch higher _than where they are now, I will break your fingers, one at a time."

"Yeah yeah," he answered unconvincingly.

"An inch," she repeated, finding a better grip and swinging one leg up to the edge of the wall. Her heel caught and she felt her support shift beneath her.

"Hey, don't lean that WAY!" Ggio shouted, staggering to the left. Soi Fon struggled to keep her grip, but her fingers lost their hold on the brick. There was a ground shaking crash as the pair of them landed.

Soi Fon opened her eyes, surprised at how little the impact had hurt when she realized her position. Ggio, who was flat on his back and looking winded, stared at her, gold eyes locked on silvered brown. She had landed on top of him, her breasts pressed against his bare chest and her face against his neck.

"Oh God!" she cried, trying to push away from him. The most that did was cause her legs to get tangled with his, and for him to gasp for air when she elbowed him in the stomach.

There was a slamming of a car door heard, followed by the sound of jingling keys and someone clearing their throat.

"Well," Tesla said drily, "I would have thought that Ms. Soi Fon at least would have the decency to do it _inside_."

"We're not _doing_ anything!" Ggio ground out furiously from his position in the dirt, "Wait, what is that?" He stretched his arm and pointed at a small, separate Laundromat bag from the larger bag of the two men's clothing.

"This?" Tesla asked, "These are Soi Fon's clothes."

The two on the ground exchanged looks before glaring at Tesla.

Three hours later the young blonde man still had no idea why he was locked outside.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello~ I'm not going to say much here, just that I love you all dearly! And Bee, if you're reading this… send me those pictures. Seriously. **

**To the rest of you, thanks for your reviews! I hope you enjoy! ;)**

Jump to it

A week or so had passed since the little 'incident' involving Soi Fon's undergarments and she had since procured more clothes for herself. She had _also_ solidified her hatred for her black haired building mate. Tesla she found to be agreeable, _especially _since she had nearly clubbed him to death for taking her clothes without her knowledge, but Ggio seemed to be an incurable philanderer, gambler, and drinker. He did not often become _drunk_, but all the same he made no secret of how much he valued good alcohol. Mornings in the bar were slow due to the fact that much of the business came in during the night, which often gave Ggio time to get over his minor hangover, when and _if _they occured.

It was one such morning that Ggio purposely situated himself near Soi Fon as she drank her customary coffee and gave her a smile that she found suspicious in the extreme. It was sharp, almost expectant, but not in a good way… more like the way a cat looks at a mouse that is trapped in a corner.

"What?" Soi Fon snapped eventually, when it became obvious that ignoring him wasn't going to get rid of him.

"Well, two things. One, I finally got a hold of a few of my contacts, so we can start working on getting your friend back, and two…" Ggio's grin widened once more, "Tonight you start your work in the bar."

Soi Fon simply stared at him, not quite understanding what his look of glee was all about. He noticed and took the liberty of clarifying.

"Short skirt is part of the uniform," he said happily, "and you have to be nice to the customers. I can't _wait _to see what your reaction will be if you get a difficult group tonight…"

"Why should you care if I wear a short skirt?" Soi Fon asked, shooting the man a look of irritated askance, "since, as you've pointed out numerous times, you have no interest in someone like me."

"Just 'cause I wouldn't take you all the way," Ggio smirked, "doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view. Like, I wouldn't jump over the railing at the Grand Canyon, but I sure as hell would look over the edge to see the bottom, right?"

"You're sick," Soi Fon glared coldly at him. This accusation was almost a tradition now, "And in desperate need of a doctor. Unfortunately you seem to have one of the two things not curable by modern medicine: Cancer and idiocy,"

"Well _excuse _me!" Ggio cried, feigning anger in a ridiculously melodramatic manner, "I think I would know if I had cancer."

"Don't tease her, Ggio," Tesla sighed, walking out of the kitchen gripping what had been labeled simply as 'The Mug'.

Soi Fon had quickly learned that in the house, there were two types of mugs: the nomal sized ones for Ggio and guests, and then The Mug, which belonged solely to Tesla and could hold practically the whole coffee pot in one go. The blonde man then gave Soi Fon a tired look and placed his cup on the table where the other two sat.

"He said more or less the same thing to Menoly," he told her.

"And then you punched me in the face…" Ggio snorted, a look of happy reminiscence on his face, "You were just jealous because she calls me Ggio-nii and you only get called Tes, even though you're her real brother."

"Oh shut up," Tesla muttered with a slight look of irritation, taking another sip of his coffee, "But you really do need to work tonight, Soi Fon. I'll be… otherwise engaged with my second job for the last half of the night. I'll be there to help you start of though."

"What he means by 'second job' is that he'll be getting a paycheck for telling people some stuff that he found on Google," Ggio told her in a matter-of-fact tone with a straight face. Tesla just shook his head, unable to speak.

…..

Soi Fon surveyed herself in the bathroom; Ggio really hadn't been kidding when he had said that the uniform consisted of a _short _skirt. Then again, the clients at Tesla's tavern were mostly men, and most men liked women, so she supposed it was a form of business ploy? That didn't mean she had to like it though.

She walked to the top of the stairs and stared down over the railing before taking the descent. The bar was loud, sure, but there was no booming music in the background. It was fairly lit, filled with the roar of many voices and shouts of laughter.

Since she had come to live in the flat above the bar, rumors had circulated, she had heard. The few regulars who had seen her going about her own business when they came in early had assumed that she was a relative of Ggio's, given her appearance, but those who simply heard the phrase 'woman in the bar flat with Ggio' assumed something entirely different, and she could see it in a few of the looks she was getting as she walked to the kitchen behind the bar. Ggio himself caught her eye for an instant, smirking before he turned back to his job.

He was very different when he worked, she noticed. His usual cocky smile was replaced by a stony visage that reflected in his hard ochre eyes. He stood in near the door with his arms folded over his chest, clad in jeans and a white hoodie splashed with the words 'Live Beat'. He didn't move very often, but to greet some of the regulars with a wave or one of those weird, manly hugs that began as a handshake… once he was crushed in a bear hug by a dark skinned giant wearing glasses similar to those worn by Ozzy Osbourne, with half his hair dyed a flaming shade of red.

"Oh," Tesla smiled when he noticed Soi Fon, "You're ready then? Just a moment," he paused to mix a drink and spun it across the granite topped bar to a customer, "Just walk around, and if anyone makes a request for something from the bar, you take their order and bring it to me, yes?"

"Of course," Soi Fon intoned dispassionately. She was catching more…. _interested_ looks from the clients as she began her rounds. She felt a tickle across the back of her leg as a particularly frisky man aimed to flip up the hem of her skirt. She seethed with anger, but took great pains not to show it.

And that, friends and neighbors, that was why Soi Fon's only friend in the world was a woman. Men were selfish pigs who thought with their dicks. When she had voiced this opinion, however, she had gotten both herself and Yorichi fired from their first waitressing jobs. It seemed that yelling at one of the costumers was taboo, even if his actions could have been considered sexual harassment. It wasn't just that costumer in that particular store, however. Every man she had had the misfortune to meet, including Ggio, and possibly Tesla, if he was a closet pervert. Up to date, Tesla had seemed more or less asexual, not caring in the least about any of the scantily clad women that pranced about his bar. Maybe he simply had an ungodly amount of self-control. Or he was gay. There was always that.

She suddenly noticed that she was being flagged over by a young man with blonde hair nearly to his waist. His companions were also sporting pale tresses, one with hair just as long, the other with his locks cropped shorter. Soi Fon tried to squeeze between a couple of chairs, but the same man who had been previously interested in her skirt hem became a little more forceful now, grabbing her wrist as she attempted to pass.

"Hey, lady," he slurred, standing and then swaying on his feet, "You lookin' for a good time?"

His friends sniggered behind him, far less drunk than he. The smell of alcohol practically _radiated _from him. She curled her lip in disgust, and attempted to jerk her arm out of his grip, but his hold tightened. She really didn't want to have to beat this guys' face in; it would look pretty damn suspicious, after all. Hardly anyone who was a foot shorter and probably two hundred pounds lighter than their opponent would be able to win, but for Soi Fon, it would be a piece of cake…

"I would appreciate it if you let my friend go,"

It was Ggio. Of course it was Ggio. Trying to play the hero, when she knew full well what he wanted. Oh wait, but he didn't like girls like her, right? Ha, Ggio liked anything that was female and still moved.

"And if I say no?" the taller man drawled as he pals egged him on.

Ggio raised his fists to eye level, a stance that Soi Fon recognized…

"What, you wanna go, pipsqueak?!" The other man roared.

"You can take him, Akio!" one of the onlookers shouted. This started off a bout of shouts about betting on the fight. Tesla simply watched carefully. He would step in if things got out of hand, and _only _if.

Soi Fon saw the one called 'Akio' make the first and biggest mistake of the fight. He assumed that Ggio's stance was for fist fighting. It was quite possibly his _only _mistake as well, considering how long the fight lasted.

The man swung wildly, staggering on his drunken feet and almost falling on his own. Ggio swayed backward, a different perfectly controlled move that put him out of range… and then, as fast as Soi Fon herself, he swung his leg in a hard, compacted move, into his opponent's stomach. The man double over, breathless, and in the same movement, Ggio brought his knee into the man's face, knocking him out cold with blood spewing from his nose. Akio fell heavily, taking several chairs and a table with him in his tumble to the floor.

Soi Fon watched Ggio's face as he released a breath, his face keeping that cold, careless look as he surveyed his enemy, straightening from his low stand and planting his foot on the man's face.

"Hey, Edrad," he called, addressing the dark giant from before, "Help me move the asshole outside. He can sleep this shit off on the pavement."

Soi Fon grabbed Ggio's forearm as Edrad hauled Akio roughly off the wooden floor, despite the protests of the assailant's friends.

"_I don't need your help, you conniving prick," _she hissed at him, "_You men are all the same, only after one thing, and you're the worst of all."_

Most of this was simply her mouth running, venting her spleen that Ggio had gotten to the one called Akio before her, that he had 'protected' her, and made her look weak. She didn't need _help_, leastwise from him.

Nonetheless, hurt flashed deep in his eyes, and his voice was just as cold as hers when he spoke, taking her jaw firmly between his thumb and forefinger; his smile didn't reach his gaze as he whispered back, "_All for appearances, little bee. As if I gave a shit about what happened to you._ _Now come on and shut up. We've got business to discuss._"

Soi Fon watched Ggio's retreating back and reluctantly followed him to the table with the three blondes, wondering why it should bother him what she had said. As soon asshe had Yorichi and he had his jewels, they would be done with each other.

And for her, that day couldn't come soon enough.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I have nothing to do… I am so tired ^^**

**Enjoy!**

**-M.S.**

Exacto!

Soi Fon plopped herself unhappily into a chair at the table that was occupied by the three blondes she had seen earlier. Their hair was not a natural shade of blonde, she noticed… or rather, it _could _have been natural, that strange silver-gold hue in their pale locks, or it could have been bleached. None of them had tell-tale dark roots though, so she couldn't say for sure. She began examining her tablemates more closely as Ggio plopped himself into a chair.

The man directly to the left of her (Ggio sat on her right) was the shortest of the three, though still taller than Ggio by two inches, seemingly the youngest. His hair was almost pure white, and while shaggy, was still shorter than chin length, though it hung in his eyes. A pale turquoise cloth was bound about his right eye, perhaps a more preferred version of an eye patch, as she could see a thin scar leading from beneath the bandage down his cheek. He was dressed in a t-shirt and baggy khakis with Vanns that seemed too big for his feet. His teeth looked as though they had been filed to points, and his pitch black eye darted continually despite his confident posture; the type of person who was all bark and no bite, it seemed.

Beside him was the person of middle height in the group, though he was a great deal taller than the white haired boy. His deep gold hair fell a bit past his shoulders, neatly kept bangs hanging over narrow eyes that were placed handsomely above a cocky smile. This man was clothed smartly in a pair of slacks and a button up blue oxford, untucked with the top two buttons undone. The way he lounged in his chair practically _screamed _that he was a risk taker, someone who, no matter the situation, was used to coming out on top.

On the right of Ggio was the tallest in the group, his hair a shade between white and gold, about the same length as his comrade beside him. He was in excellent shape, his violet eyes shifting restlessly, but with quite a different temperament than the quick, nervous glances of his shorter friend. It seemed as though, beneath his calm outer demeanor, he was burning, itching for a fight.

"Ggio," the first man grinned, sharklike, "It's been a while since I've seen you come out from behind that marksmanship of yours and fight get some blood on your own hands rather than just pulling a trigger."

"Ah, well, it's not as if I can shoot customers, Di Roy," Ggio replied with an easy smile, "But I'd say it's been a while in general… what, two months? Three?"

"Hey now, aren't you going to introduce us properly?" the second man asked, his smirk not quite reaching his eyes, "There is a lady present."

"Oh how could I forget," Ggio said sarcastically. He indicated the men as he spoke to her, "Di Roy Rinker, Findorr Calius, and Yylfordt Granz; they work in the laundering business… and not with clothes, you dig?"

"Exacto!" Findor chuckled.

"I got it," Soi Fon answered waspishly. Ggio was acting as if their little whisper-held tiff hadn't taken place, the bastard.

"They also specialize in forgery of documents… and pass cards. Guys, this is your actual client, Soi Fon. I'm just along for the ride… mostly," Ggio flicked a glance at her before looking back at the blonde trio, "I need you to do something for us. I'm paying top dollar for this to get done right."

"We're listening bro," Yylfordt leaned forward, elbows on the table, fingertips together with his forefingers resting on his chin.

"We're running a prison break."

Findor, who had been rocking his chair back on two legs in a relaxed manner, now slammed his seat back down to the floor with a loud bang. He rocked forward a look of surprise on his face that was oddly mixed with what Soi Fon took to be eagerness.

"You're doing what? Who got caught? Not Tesla, obviously, we met him out back… Menoly?"

"No, no," Ggio laughed, "Soi Fon's getaway driver."

"Pay in advance," Di Roy said suddenly, looking up from wear he sat, arms folded across his chest, "If you get caught or killed, I don't want to get ripped off."

"Oh, I'll pay," Ggio said with a cold smile, "But not in advance. If you guys fuck this up, I'll be toast anyway, so it won't really matter to me what happens."

"Hey now, that's not fair," Findor complained, "Have we ever let you down before?"

"Don't answer that," Yylfordt said quickly as Ggio opened his mouth to reply.

"Well anyway," the black haired man sighed, pulling a roll of bills out of his pocket, "If I get through with no problems I'll pay you in full. Here's something to hold you three over until then."

"Sounds good," Yylfordt said with a small smile as Findor began counting the money, Di Roy looking on with his sharks' teeth grin, "What exactly do you need?" He looked at Soi Fon as he said this. She simply stared back blankly for a moment before turning to glare at Ggio.

"We need pass cards," Ggio said, "Fake I.D.s to get us into the prison without setting off any alarms."

"I'll see what I can do, bro," the tallest of the trio said, his somehow grim smile still in place.

"No es exacto," Findor muttered, looking up before saying louder, "For Ggio it's not 'see what we can do,' it is 'see it done'."

"I don't see why we owe _him _anything," Di Roy grumbled.

"To build a name, you dimwit," Yylfordt reprimanded the silver haired young man, "Ggio's well known for running crime outside of Espada. If we pull something for him, Tesla will know, and our business will increase," he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, "It means money, stupid."

"Alright already!" Di Roy snapped, "God!"

"Ahh, that's not the only reason," Ggio laughed, "and you know it! You'd help me out even if it wasn't to that great a benefit. Friends in need and all that bull…"

"Well that might be true," Yylfordt said, standing up and pulling the money from Findor's grip (much to the other man's dismay). The others stood with him, and Ggio rose to his feet to accept a handshake from the leading member of the group.

"We'll be in touch," Findor called from the doorway to Soi Fon, his blonde hair sweeping over his shoulder as he turned, "You can be sure of it."

And then, much in the same way they had slipped in without too much notice, they were gone. Soi Fon flicked a glance at Ggio, who was worrying his thumbnail, eyebrows furrowed.

"Something wrong?" she asked coldly.

"Ah, not really, but…" Ggio turned his pockets inside out, expression melodramatically depressed, "that was all my cash for the week."

"Right," Soi Fon said in annoyance, "So are you going to tell me what you're scheming, or am I really the one who's 'along for the ride… mostly'?"

"Oh I'll tell you," Ggio told her, looking surprised, "But not quite yet."

"Why not?" Soi Fon growled angrily. She hated being kept in the dark; it pissed her off to know that someone knew something she didn't.

"Because, darling," her black haired coworker grinned, "We still have work to do!"

Oh how she _hated_ it when he used his fake terms of endearment. So very much.

…..

"I win again!"

"Seriously Kisuke, there's only so many times one can play tic-tac-toe."

"Not true! It's a game of infinite possibilities! Especially if you add extra boxes, like this!"

"Oh, come _on_! Can't we at least play hang man?"

"SHUT UP OVER THERE!" echoed down the hall of the holding facility to the cell where the two people sat on the lower bunk of a shared cell, scratching tic-tac-toe grids into the wall. The pair looked up, and then looked at each other before the man on the left stood and started toward the iron barred wall. His progress was stopped as his companion grabbed his wrist and stormed over the wall instead.

"_YOU _SHUT UP YOU SON OF A WHORE, OR I'LL COME OVER THERE MYSELF AND BEAT YOUR STUPID ASS TO A PULP!" the first man's companion roared, long violet ponytail thrown over one shoulder and ochre eyes glaring. The hall was suddenly filled with shouting, which caused the prison guard to try and restore order. In the uproar, Kisuke Urahara looked up as his cellmate.

"I still find it hard to believe you're a woman," he said mildly, "With a voice like that you sound like some huge body builder."

"It's not my real voice and you know it," the dark skinned woman-disguised-as-man grumbled, her voice still hard but not nearly as deep, "I'm just too lazy to get my cell moved."

"Alright, I know," Kisuke smiled, "You're definitely a woman."

Yoruichi took a deep breath and winced, her bound breasts pushing against the bandages that held them so tight against her chest that to the casual looker they were nonexistent. The baggy clothes she wore further concealed her figure, and with her long hair held away from her face by a sweatband and in a messy ponytail, she really could have passed for some sort of pretty-boy drug dealer. Hell, she even had enough scars to pass for a street fighter if she tried hard enough.

"Thank you," she said sardonically as she climbed into the top bunk in the cell, "For acknowledging the fact."

"So…." He began after a pause, sweeping his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes and then scratching his five o'clock shadow as he searched for something to talk about, "You're here for theft?"

"Yup," the woman sighed, "Getaway driver on a job gone wrong. I won't be here long though."

"Yeah?" Kisuke cocked an eyebrow at her, looking doubtful. She laughed at him, and for a moment, she seemed beautiful to him despite her purposeful roughening.

"Yeah. I'm sure Soi Fon is doing whatever she can to get me out of here, maybe even as we speak… no, she's probably asleep now."

"Wish I could get out," he looked almost saddened for a minute as he said, "To see the kids and Tessai at least." He smiled and then said, "Well, at least Jinta can tell his friends I did something cool for once."

"You got kids? Married? Or in one of _those _relationships where marriage is banned due to…ahem… gender issues?" Yoruichi rolled over in her bed to stare at him over the metal edge.

"No! No, still single! Tessai is _not _my boyfriend!" Kisuke denied furiously, "I'm perfectly straight, I swear. Tessai is an old friend who works in the pharmacy I run. Jinta and Ururu aren't really mine, but I'm raising them… Tessai probably has them now, keeping the store going."

"You really wanna get out?" she asked. He looked at her with his muddy-green eyes, confused.

"Well yeah," he said, "'Course I do, anyone would. But if you're getting bailed, or dragged out of court, your friend on the outside can't really help me there, not can she?"

Yorichi practically roared with laughter now.

"Who said anything about bail?" she chuckled after she had caught her breath. She flipped off the bed in a twisting acrobatic feat, landing catlike on her feet. She stretched up and whispered in his ear, "I'm talking breakout."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Wassup guys? Well, I know this chapter is short, but bear with it… chapter 7 is currently about 4000 words long. I figured that as long as I was torturing characters I could still make you guys happy ;D**

**-MS**

Liftoff!

Five business days later, (because apparently the blonde trio didn't work weekends) Soi Fon left the flat above the bar to see Ggio on the phone, leaning with one forearm against the wall, the rest of his body set at an angle. He was still in his boxers, she was unsurprised to note, as Tesla waved at her from the kitchen doorway sipping from The Mug. She returned his greeting, finishing her descent from the flat and walking into earshot of Ggio's conversation while wondering if living alone for so long allowed him to walk about half naked without an ounce of shame.

"Well no shit Sherlock, it's a prison passkey; it's made so you're _not supposed to copy it_. I don't care if it was hard, I asked you guys because you're the best at what you do! Oh shut up, I'm paying you, aren't I? Come on, really? Well if it's _done _then stop complaining and just bring the damn things over! Fine. Just Fine. Be here by noon. Yeah, whatever. Bye."

He proceeded to slam the black receiver back onto its hook, rounding angrily on Tesla and Soi Fon.

"I can't _believe _those guys! I'm gonna be fucking _homeless _by the time they're done!" he looked thoroughly worked up as he stormed into the kitchen, still ranting, "I mean, they did what they were asked, and now they want to double the price because they encountered 'difficulties'!"

The black haired young man now proceeded to shovel Mini-Wheats into his mouth, looking furious before he swallowed hard and glared up at the two who were staring at him, Soi Fon impassively and Tesla with a slight air of confusion.

"I mean, what we're doing isn't easy, but seriously, that much…" he stuffed another spoonful of cereal into his mouth, speaking around the shredded wheat, "Well, it's not like I'm paying them until after… in case of shoddy work, ya know?"

"And that's what has me worried," Soi Fon said flatly, turning her back on the two men and walking away.

….

"Ggio," Yylfordt greeted with a somehow empty smile, "We brought what you asked… with great trouble."

"Exacto," Findor muttered, rubbing a hand across his eyes; he looked exhausted, as if he had been at work the night before.

"Cool guys," Ggio grinned, "Thanks a ton! I'll pay you when we got our friend back, thank you very much."

"Don't try and slip out of payment," Di Roy growled, narrowing dark eyes as his customer, "We don't take kindly to that."

"Oh come on, would I really do that?" Ggio laughed a bit too heartily at this, and the other three stared at him.

"Yes," Findor answered.

"If your work gets Yoruichi out of jail," Soi Fon suddenly threw in, coming up behind Ggio, "I'll _make sure_ you get paid in full. If she is not freed, however…." She left her threat hanging on the air.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Di Roy said, waving one hand through the air, sharks' teeth flashing, "We've heard plenty of threats girl."

"Oh I believe you have," Ggio laughed, "But Soi means what she says, I can tell you. But seriously, no cash for you three unless this works. If you gave me shit goods, then I'm not giving you a dime."

"Our stuff will work," Yylfordt said, turning away, "As long as you use them right."

"Ciao, Ggio!" Findor yawned, stepping out after Yylfordt. Di Roy simply stared for a moment before following his companions outside, shutting the door behind him. Ggio called Tesla over and dumped the manila folder he had been given out on the bar, Soi Fon beside him and Tesla across.

Out scattered two I.D. badges, two scanner cards, a pair of keys, and a small note. The black haired young man picked up the writing first and read aloud to the other two.

"Dear Ggio and co," he stared, "We took the liberty of choosing names for the I.D.s, hope you don't mind. Also, Ggio, we 'rented' you a car like you asked, and we decided to pick up a black Aston Martin V12; Fast, and cheaper than most cars that can hit the speeds it does. Its fairy used, and we make no guarantees, but if you do things right you won't have to push it too hard. The keys are in the envelope, and the car will be parked out in front of the shop. We had a friend of ours redo the plates and paintjob, but the cops around here are lax and corrupt, so we figure you shouldn't have much of a problem. If the car makes it through the trip, tell Tesla it's a birthday present for the last five years that we skipped out on his party.  
-Hoping to see you later, Y, F, & D.R"

Ggio shrugged, tossed the note aside and picked up the keys, examining them for a second before stuffing them in the pocket of his jeans.

"You're not taking the motorcycle?" Tesla asked hopefully. Knowing Ggio, if the car survived, it would come back with scratched, a couple of dents, and if they were lucky, bullet holes and a broken windshield.

"We can't fit three people on my baby, Tesla. Somebody would fall off and get a nasty case of road rash." Ggio smirked, "Not like you'd know _anything _about that, would you, Tes?"

"Shut up!" Tesla snapped, "That was your fault! You didn't _tell _me-"

Soi Fon tuned them out and picked up the I.D.s, looking at them closely; they were police cards, the kind you would see tucked in a wallet or pocket on a real cop. The one with Ggio's picture (nicely doctored so that he seemed to be dressed in uniform) read 'Caleb Hernandez' while her own card said 'Bao Lee'. She was a bit disgruntled by the fact that the picture on her I.D. looked a bit more haggard than Ggio's, but was pulled out of her thoughts by Ggio's next sentence.

"At least you fell on your ass, Tes," he was saying sagely, "And not your face. Then again, you spend half you time with your head up your butt anyways, so maybe it's the same for you."

"You-" Tesla started angrily; he sputtered for a moment and then cried, "At least I've had a haircut in the last ten years!"

"Really?" Ggio snickered, "That's your best comeback?"

"You should have called him a man-whore," Soi Fon threw in distractedly. The two looked at her and then each other before laughing uproariously. She cast them a mildly confused glance.

She had no idea what was so funny.

She had been dead serious.

….

"Aaand…. We're off," Ggio hefted the bag he held in one hand as he said this; it contained a change of clothes for himself and Soi Fon, as well as Yorichi. The clothing for the rescuing pair was to look more professional when on the scene to avoid attracting suspicion, and the clothes for Yorichi… well, obviously an orange jumpsuit was a bit conspicuous.

"Be careful," Tesla worried, sounding like an old maid, or a mother, "Come back in one piece… and the car… please, _please _bring it back in good condition. Please."

"Oho," Ggio huffed in a mock disgruntled tone, with one foot in the doorframe, "You don't actually care about us, just the car. Who knows? Maybe it'll come back missing a _side mirror_."

"Aw, come on Ggio, that was an accident, I _said _I was sorry-"

"Kidding, kidding," the black haired man laughed, waving at his blonde friend, "Don't worry, it'll all be fine. I'll call you when we stop off at the hotel."

"Hotel?" Soi Fon asked, cocking an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"I'll explain in the car," her temporary partner in crime told her as he held the door open for her, "Let's get going then, shall we?"

"_One piece, Ggio_!" Tesla yelled after them.

"He's really concerned about you, hm?" Soi Fon wondered disinterestedly.

"We've had uh… _incidents_ in the past. He's just worried about the hospital bill I bet," he offered her the keys with a grin, "Care to drive, little bee?"

She stared at him blankly, "I can't drive."

"Huh?"

"I don't have a license," she repeated, "I can't drive."

"Well, even if your license was suspended… it would be bad if we got pulled over before we even got there, so I suppose I'll take her for a spin first…" Ggio's smirk reappeared, "And I cross my heart and hope to die, I'm not drunk this time."

"Guess I'll have to stick a needle through your pupil then," Soi Fon gritted as she swung herself into the passenger side of the car. Ggio either didn't hear her or chose not to as he closed the trunk over their bag. He got in, slamming the door and turning the key in the ignition, pulling away from the bar before he started talking to her, all traces of humor gone from his features.

"Here's how this is going to work: we're going to use the excuse of needing to transport your friend for a moved up court date; I have the paper to 'prove' it. Once she's outside of her cell and into the transporting room we're just going to have to try and sneak out. We'll get in the car and I'll lose them as soon as possible. In case of a tail, we'll be staying in a hotel for a few nights. No point in leading them home, right?"

"I suppose that makes sense."

"Now listen," Ggio continued, turning to stare at her with those unnerving ochre eyes, "When we get into the facility, just follow my lead, and let me do most of the talking."

"Why would I-" she started angrily.

"That's why," he cut her off before she could finish, "You don't take kindly to orders. If we got instructions from a high ranking officer and you mouthed off, they might take you in to chew you out, and then… well, then they'd find you out, the jig is up, and we get a double jail cell without parole, you get me?"

"….yes," Soi Fon growled begrudgingly.

"Good deal," Ggio grinned recklessly, flooring the pedal, "Let's do this."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello my lovely readers! I must say I am rather pleased with this chapter… it's twice as long as any of the other chapters to make up for how disappointingly short the last one was… I hope you enjoy! Drop me a review and let me know, ne?**

**-MS**

Bullets and Break

"Like I said before, _follow my lead_," Ggio hissed as they walked through the gate of the prison, "And pray to God no one recognizes me…"

Soi Fon gave him a sidelong glance, but made no reply. As much as she would have hated to admit it, she was a little tense. The idea of getting life in prison was pretty daunting, maybe even a bit scary. She would never have told that to Ggio though; the black haired man practically _radiated _confidence from his 5'4" frame, his shoulders straight and his posture erect, he walked like a man who owned the world.

"Badge," he muttered to her from the side of his mouth as they approached the door. A tall man leaned lazily by the entrance, obviously meant to be a guard, but not doing his job very well, Soi Fon thought. It would take only about two seconds to knock him off balance and step on his face if need be.

Ggio stared up at the man; it was rather degrading, he thought to himself, how great the height difference was between himself and the hulk who was giving him a once over.

"Haven't seen you 'round here before," the man grunted, "You a newbie?"

"No, no!" Ggio laughed, handing the man his ID and thumbing over his shoulder at Soi Fon, "She's the rookie, I just got transferred."

"Gotcha. Having fun?" the man asked while scanning the cards.

"What?"

"With all the shit that goes down in the city, I was wondering if you were having fun being so busy," the giant clarified, handing back the pass and holding out his hand for Soi Fon's.

"Ah, well… to be honest I kind of wish I could go back home; I don't even have time to sleep nowadays."

"I know what you mean," the man sighed, "been out here for hours… well, if you see anyone outside, ask for relief for me, will you?"

"Of course!" Ggio said, looking sympathetic, "We're bound to run into someone; we're moving a prisoner."

"Ooh, rough… be careful of that violet haired freak in the men's block. He's new, but I have to wonder what hell hole he crawled out of," the guard winced.

"We'll be careful, thanks for the warning,"

The two of them walked into the dark antechamber where prisoners were transferred. Everything was concrete, as expected, with trucks parked in various places, one near a pile of unloaded cargo in crates with metal edging. A few more police talking in low tones on the other side of the room.

"_That purple haired guy the guard mentioned," _Soi Fon murmured to Ggio, barely moving her lips to speak, _"It's got to be Yoruichi_,"

"_I thought your partner was a _woman,_" _Ggio hissed back without turning his head. Soi Fon watched his braid swaying behind him, slightly mesmerized before she replied.

_"She is. She'll have a reason for being in the men's block, but that's definitely her_,"

"If you're sure," Ggio answered in a normal tone as they approached the door. The iron-edged crates formed a wall between where they stood and the other two cops in the room, while on the other side was a concrete barrier that was high enough that it created a line of deep shadow that would be good to hide in, but not so high that one could not climb it. The hard wall was used to separate transporting trucks when they were in use, "Cross your fingers, toes, legs, eyes, what the fuck ever, just hope this works.

He pulled out the passkey that they had gotten from Yylfordt, Findorr and Di Roy, taking a deep breath as he did so. It was supposedly a high clearance, top quality copy; the prison was run down and underused, but its security would still have been tight, at least on the electronic level.

Ggio leveled the card with the crack in the code pad… and swiped.

For a moment, nothing happened. Soi Fon breathed a sigh of relief…. But too early. The keypad lit up red, and a blaring siren began to wail overhead, startling her into inhaling sharply again.

"Fuck," Ggio muttered, gripping her wrist and dragging her close to him while pulling his gun from its holster. She felt him twist against her as he leaned around the edge of the stack of boxes, firing off two rounds in the direction of the shouting.

"What's going on?!" Soi Fon heard the younger police man cry faintly over the siren.

"Pin them for me," Ggio murmured in her ear before letting go of her hand and giving her his gun. Unclipped the heavy belt that went with the uniform and shrugged off the button up top, revealing a black tank top beneath, and a screwdriver tucked in the waistband of the dark pants he wore. She complied, squeezing off another round before ducking the return fire.

"What the hell are you _doing_?" she yelled at him, the whooping sirens deadening her voice, "We need to get out, it's a bust!"

"I know, I _know_," he shouted back, crouching and hurriedly unscrewing the metal cover of the keypad, "But this place has automatic lock down! I need to disable the security before we can leave!"

Soi Fon snarled angrily, another bullet whizzing overhead and cracking the cement wall as she turned her back to him. She had been so _sure _that she'd get Yoruichi back! Her heart had been pounding with anticipation, she had practically seen her friend's ochre eyes smiling at her, but now…

Damn Ggio and his flakey 'contacts'. Those stupid blondes probably had no idea what they were doing.

"Hurry up," she snapped over her shoulder as she ducked another shot after peeking up over the rim of the crates.

"Stop _nagging_, woman!" he returned in frustration, "I know I'm good with my hands, but seriously, this is harder than it looks!" There was a sudden loud buzzing sound, a bit like when a fly ran into a bug zapper, only amplified a thousand times, followed shortly by a shout of "_OW_, _fucking HELL_!"

"What was that?"

"Shocked myself; just make sure they don't come over here!"

Several minutes later, Soi Fon was beginning to run out of ammo to pin their adversaries with, even using Ggio's spare magazine. If he couldn't get it in the next few minutes, then….

She ducked another bullet, hearing it _ping_ off one of the metal crates by her ear; she thought she might go deaf like this, listening to the sirens and shots, breathing in gunsmoke with the air crackling with the copper tang of electricity….

There was a distinct _thud_ behind her, accompanied with another buzz, though this one shorter, and the sirens weakened in volume.

"Ggio," she called over her shoulder as she used her last bullet to frighten the rookie. She was hoping he had another spare group of bullets tucked somewhere; he was either prepared for the worst or not at all, she had learned.

There was no reply.

"Ggio, I know you can hear me you stupid bastard," she growled. She waited for his naturally reckless voice to pipe up, arrogantly, maybe even laughingly, telling her not to be such a bitch, but still no reply.

"You're really starting to piss me off, you-" she rounded on him, preparing to at least give him a good kick between the legs for being such an idiot and getting her in to this mess, but she stopped short, her voice catching in her throat.

He lay facing away from her, she saw, one hand still stretched toward the key pad; the screwdriver had fallen from his fingers, but in its place was a thin orange wire, tattered copper filaments fraying out the ends. She couldn't see his face, but he wasn't moving, and the end of his braid was dipped in the slow stream of blood that was running from beneath him, like a paintbrush.

_He must have been hit by a ricochet_.

"I… I think I got him," Soi Fon heard the rookie say in awe, from the other side of the room as the sirens finally died, "The bullets have stopped. I think I got him, chief."

"Come on; carefully, _carefully_ you fool, if he starts shooting again you'll get hit between the eyes," an older male voice reprimanded. Soi Fon thought quickly, glancing up at the concrete wall behind her, now studded with bullet holes. No one would think to look up there, but-

"You got him alright," an older man, bald and in his mid to late thirties, but in good shape and clearly a fighting man, said dully as he came upon the limp form of the young man with the black braid. He poked Ggio's unmoving body with the toe of his boot.

"I… I killed him," the rookie cried in a choked voice, "_Jesus_ forgive me, I _killed_ him!" He looked to be on the verge of a breakdown.

"Yeah, well that's how it goes," the senior officer grunted, "I'm going to check inside and make sure everything is okay with the inmates. Stay here for a minute."

"But…"

The other man stepped over Ggio and pushed open the door; it seemed that Ggio had disarmed the lock.

"That guy must've been one hell of a hacker," he muttered irritably, "I'd hate to see what he could do given time and access to our database." With that, he disappeared through the frame, the slamming shut behind him.

Soi Fon watched the rookie from her hiding place above. He was shaking, obviously in some form of nervous shock over having killed a man; she waited, biding her time until the young man looked away from Ggio's body, face pale… and then she swung herself over the edge.

Folding her legs underneath her as she fell, she landed with her knee planted in the back of the rookie's neck. The young man crashed to the ground, with her on top; a bee who when disturbed had a terribly painful sting. She checked the man's pulse. His neck was fractured, and he was unconscious, maybe even in a comatose state, but he was alive. If he turned out to be paralyzed when he woke, she wouldn't be surprised; but it was an 'us or them' basis now, and Soi Fon wasn't over fond of self-sacrifice.

Ignoring him now, she moved to Ggio's side, kneeling in the pool of cerise that had spread from his unmoving form. She rolled him over with some difficulty, trying not to damage his body any further; he was still warm, but that meant nothing, nothing at all… if he had died but moments ago his body heat would not have dispersed yet. His blood ran over her palms as she gripped his shirt to steady him.

There was too much blood to find the wound without searching for it, and they were running out of time. Soi Fon glanced at his face; he was pale, his breathing shallow, and his heartbeat erratic, but his sunbeam eyes were at least halfway open, if unfocused. He was in shock, she figured, but she had to get him to the car.

Thinking quickly, she went to his feet and unlaced his heavy black work boots. The bottoms were worn and the leather well broken in. After she had removed them, she held them in one hand for a moment as she dipped her palm his blood and smeared it on the concrete wall. She then placed the soles of his boots in the red and slipped the warm shoes over her hands, pressing each boot down hard onto the floor to imitate staggering footprints, taking time to flick spots of crimson here and there.

The effect was a false trail, leading the opposite direction from where they would actually be going. Soi Fon then stripped off her top layer, having worn a white sleeveless shirt with a high collar under her uniform, the necklace Yoruichi had given her for her birthday glinting on her chest. Taking the uniform shirt, she wiped Ggio off as best she could to avoid dripping, but at the rate he was losing blood, she didn't know if it would make a difference.

She grabbed his wrist and got under his arm so that she was taking almost his whole weight on her back; it was an uncomfortable thing, really. He was only 5'4", but that was still a good five inches taller than her, and he was easily twenty pounds heavier than she even with his lean build.

"You fucking man-whore, you better not die on me," she hissed at him as she staggered toward the door under his weight.

Coming to the entrance, she set him down as gently as she could, opening the portal slowly. The guard from before tensed, but relaxed as he saw her.

"You're the rookie from before!" he said in relief, "The siren went off and the door locked, do you know what's going- is that blood?"

She silenced him with a quick jab to the throat, crushing his windpipe. He'd probably die, she realized sullenly, but big deal. If what Ggio said was right, the whole police system of that area was corrupt anyways.

Soi Fon hurried back inside, retrieving Ggio. As she picked him up this time, a light of recognition came into his dull ochre gaze.

"Ahh…" he breathed, struggling to take a bit of his own weight, "It hurts…"

The rest of his words became unintelligible as he trailed off, but she had heard enough;

_He has no idea he's been shot_, she thought to herself, _He has no clue what's happening._

That alone spoke far more loudly about his condition than the blood. For Ggio, who was usually so alert, even when drunk, so controlled even when angry, so purposefully carefree and confident in crazy situations, to be that out of it….

She reached the car, breathing heavily, and fished around in Ggio's pocket with her free arm, withdrawing the keys and his cell phone. The keys were slick with blood as she inserted them into the car door, pulling on the handle until it opened. She placed Ggio inside as gently as possible, but he still closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as she sat him down. She reached across and buckled him, because if she was going to drive, she might as well give him a fighting chance at survival.

She ran around the hood and swung herself into the driver's seat, ramming the red-stained keys into the ignition and twisting savagely as she clipped her seatbelt into place with her other hand; the Aston Martin started smoothly, and she pressed her foot gently to the pedal before she realized that she hadn't released the break.

"Hurry, hurry," she muttered to herself, glancing into the rearview mirror to check if anyone was coming out of the prison. Not yet, she saw, but probably soon. They had most likely discovered that Ggio was gone, and were following her false trail.

Her heart fluttered in her chest as she released the break and the car began to roll forward. She chanced a look at Ggio before turning her eyes back to the road and pressing her foot to the pedal.

Once she was actually driving, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. They were driving on a prison road, virtually free of traffic, however; thinking about driving into the city was quite a bit worse.

She spun the steering wheel to the right to take a sharp turn and ended up cutting the corner, bouncing off the road for a few feet before the tires of the Aston reconnected with pavement. Ggio gave a low groan as the car dropped, the movement pressing the seatbelt in to his body.

Something slid against Soi Fon's leg as she pulled back up on to the road, and she glanced down to see Ggio's cell phone, the screen smeared with dried sanguine. She had to call Tesla; She couldn't go back to the bar, and Ggio was in no shape to give directions to the hotel he had said they'd be stopping at…. Soi Fon took her eyes off the road and began to root through Ggio's contacts.

'Abbey M.', the first contact read, followed by 'Abirama R.'. After than was her contact, a file which he had apparently chosen to name 'Bee :3'; she inwardly seethed about this, but she continued down the list anyway, flipping pages quickly to find Tesla's number.

'Caitlyn', the beginning of the 'C' page blared in the thick black font that each name plate was written in, 'Charlotte C.', 'Choe Neng P.', 'Cyan Sung-sun'. She finally scrolled over to the 'D' page, wondering how many contacts Ggio had in his phone before something caught her eye.

Marked with an asterisk, there was an exceedingly simple contact, only marked as 'Doc. AG', with a single phone number attached. It was her best shot, she supposed, so she pressed send and put the phone to her ear.

Whoever was on the other end picked up after two rings.

"_Ggio_!" a male, but effeminate voice cried on the other end, "_I wasn't expecting a call from you! We haven't seen each other in a while, not after what happened with Barragan, speaking of which are your ribs alright? He threw you pretty hard; it was hard to patch you up that time, I wasn't sure you'd…. Ggio?_"

"No," Soi Fon answered flatly, having let the man chatter on by himself.

"_Wait, who is this?"_ the man asked in confusion, "_Unless you're one of Ggio's lady friends prank calling…_"

"This is most certainly not a prank. Are you a doctor?"

"_Well, if by that you mean I graduated medical school… no. But I do work as a back alley sort of surgeon if that's any help_?"

"I need your office address," she said bluntly.

"_Ah, sweetheart_," he laughed, "_I don't have an office; just an apartment_."

"Just tell me where I can find you!" Soi Fon snapped, hitting a rather deep pothole in the road due to her distraction with the phone. Ggio's eyes widened and he paled significantly, screaming in agony; Soi Fon heard a sort of grinding crunch under his cry and watched his fingers go limp. He whimpered and gripped his left forearm, heedless of the red soaking that side of his chest.

"I can't move it," he choked, "Ahhh, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…"

"_Was that Ggio?" _The voice asked, sounding a bit worried now.

"Yes. He's been shot, left side of the chest; there's quite a lot of blood, and I don't think he knows what's going on. We hit a bump in the road, something made a sort of grating noise, and now…"

"… it hurts, it hurts, ah, _God_!" Ggio cried and began silently muttering to himself, eyes wide open but blank, face white as a sheet, the left side of his body dyed crimson. The car hit another bump, and a sharp click was heard this time. Ggio didn't make a sound; his golden irises, so like Yoruichi's rolled back in his head and he slumped over, senseless.

"He's unconscious," Soi Fon finished.

"_Well then,"_ the voice on the other end, the one called Dr. A.G. said smoothly, "_If he's unconscious, I won't have to use anesthetic. Please tell me, is there an exit wound?_"

"I don't _know_, I didn't have time to check!" Soi Fon bit out, "_You're _the doctor!"

_"Alright, alright…. Where are you now_?"

"Entering the west side of Karakura," she replied stiffly.

"_Good; drive to Hueco Mundo district and find the apartment buildings on Kimoji Avenue. I'll meet you out front."_

Soi Fon followed the directions of the voice, narrowly avoiding multiple collisions, and arriving, shockingly _alive_, at the apartments. Standing out front was a young man, leaning against a parking meter before an empty space, holding his cell phone to his ear with his other arm crossed. He was dressed casually in a dark gray turtleneck sweater and khaki slacks, his glasses sliding low on his straight nose and his violently pink hair hanging in gold eyes.

She looked in surprise at the man who was probably a couple years older than she and Ggio, and thinking that he was just plain _weird_. The doctor looked up from his phone and waved with an almost cheery smile.

Soi Fon swung desperately into the parking space in front of him, but ended up turning the wheel to hard. Not only did the car ride up over the curb, she took on one of the side mirrors on another parking meter and scraped a large swatch of paint off on another car. She had made it into a space however, and driving was no longer required.

The passenger side door popped open, and Ggio, who had been leaning against it in his unconscious state, slumped further to the side. He was caught by the pale spidery fingers of the pink haired doctor, who looked at her with spark-yellow eyes, a stare of mingle interest, suspicion, curiosity and mild excitement. She broke the stare, getting out of the car and walking around the side where the man stood, still supporting Ggio.

Her heart was fluttering; she didn't know why… she wasn't anxious, she was _irritated_! Ggio couldn't die yet, she needed him to get Yoruichi! She wasn't worried… she just didn't want the stupid, drunk bastard's blood on her hands. He was an idiot, completely and utterly hopeless… so she didn't understand what she did next, even after thinking about it sometime later.

"Please," she said to the doctor, her voice carrying the barest hint of an exhausted tremble, "Please help him."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hello again lovelies! I'm sorry if the little prison-escapade didn't go as everyone expected… what can I say, as an author, I am ruthless to my characters at times! I hope everyone enjoys this next installment! Drop a review please!**

**-MS**

Blood and Bone

"Of course I will," the pink haired man grunted as he hauled the shorter, bloodstained man out of the car, "But this one's not going on his tab, the tight fisted miser… give me a hand here, miss?"

Soi Fon nodded shortly and stepped down off the curb, situating herself under Ggio's other arm. His eyelid fluttered and he seemed to come to himself for a moment; he tried to stand, getting his feet under him for only half a second before his knees buckled and he almost dragged her down with him. The tall doctor shook his head and began to drag the dark haired man with a small sigh; Soi Fon walked with him, lending as much support as she could by just holding his torso. His useless arm drooped over his own shoulders more to ensure that it didn't move too much rather than helping him remain upright. Her face was becoming slowly painted red as her cheek brushed against him with every staggering step.

"S-soi…?" he muttered, his molten-gold gaze slowly wandering to the corner of his eyes as his head was bowed with the weight of pain.

"What?"

"Sorry… 'bout this," his speech was slightly slurred, "I really…. Wan'ed to help ya…"

Soi Fon glanced at him again, taking in his ashy-pale featured with a feeling of annoyed alarm. He wasn't looking fantastic. All traces of his usual cocky humor were gone, and he looked like the simple act of speaking was an effort.

"Shut up," she snapped at him, "just _shut_ up."

"Yeah…" he whispered in a murmuring sigh, closing his eyes again. His weight seemed to increase, and the doctor looked over.

"He's out," the glasses-wearing man commented as they passed through the sliding doors of the apartment building and into the lobby, "Let's hope he stays that way."

The lobby to the apartments spoke of just how much people paid to live there; tiled with white marble and well lit by a chandelier, there was a set of sweeping stairs carpeted in red, and set in the wall was a large elevator with the customary buttons. Against the opposite side was a large, polished mahogany desk at which a young woman sat shuffling papers with a look of concentration. Her dark brown hair fell over her business-casual dressed shoulders in ripple-like waves. Her dark eyes flicked up for a second to glance at the odd trio before returning to her papers… she took a moment to realize what she had seen before she bolted upright with a squeak, he chair spinning out behind her.

"Doctor!" she cried, her eyes settling on the wide streak of red that was now smeared across the pristine white tiles from Ggio's passage. Soi Fon helped to get Ggio into the elevator as the pink haired man address the woman.

"Don't tell anyone about this Marianne," he said with a smile as he pressed a bloody finger to his lips, "it's for work. If anyone comes asking around, I'm not here, okay?"

"But doctor-!" the elevator doors shut what might have been a protest on her end, and the air was then filled with gentle music that couldn't overcome the exhausted static in Soi Fon's head.

The doors dinged open at the eighth floor, and the young doctor stepped forward while Soi Fon continued to space out; she stumbled while trying to catch up to him and almost was dragged along herself as he walked down the hallway to the fifth door down on the left. The doctor fumbled for his keys for a minute before ramming a key into the lock and pushing the door open.

Inside was _extremely _clean, the furniture and décor themed white, black, and every shade in between, creating a very sterile looking environment that reminded Soi Fon of a chessboard.

"Come on, come on," the pink haired man urged, dragging her forward once more via Ggio, "We can't have Ggiovanni bleeding all over my tile again…"

"Again?" Soi Fon asked incredulously, but the man ignored her.

"Hold this," he said hurriedly, shoving Ggio at her so that she almost fell backward; she watched as he rummaged in a cupboard and came back up with what looked like a tool box and a tablecloth. He swung the cloth over the table in a practiced movement so that it settled more or less straight and then turned to his sink, turning the water on hot.

"Here," he muttered, taking Ggio from her and picking him up with some effort, "Damn it you fatass, you're only like five feet tall, lose some weight!"

The doctor spread her injured companion out on the table, and then stuck a pair of pliers under the hot water in the sink.

"Well," he said, "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"I don't care," Soi Fon told him tiredly, "I really don't."

"Good news first then!" the young man smiled, "We don't need to use anesthetic because he's practically comatose; this saves us some time."

"And?"

"Well the bad news is that there's not an exit wound, and I don't have an X-ray machine, so we get to go fishing in Ggio's shoulder until we find a bullet. Also, he's staining my best tablecloth… these should be sterile enough, right?"

He pulled the pliers out of the water; Soi Fon looked at them and cringed in disgust. They were none too well cared for, and the handle was crusted with dried blood.

"Help me get his shirt off, hm?" the doctor smiled at her, "Hand me the scissors, I'll cut and you just pull it off."

She gave him the black handled blades that had been propped against the phone on his counter and watched as he carefully cut away blood soaked cloth from Ggio's skin. When he moved away to wash the scissors, she retrieved the parts of shirt as best she could; she could see the actual wound now, a dark hole surrounded by serrated, torn bits of flesh. It wasn't pouring blood like it had before, but she wasn't sure if it was because it was getting better or because Ggio was bleeding out.

"The bullet probably hit a pretty major vein," the pink haired man commented, coming back to the table and picking up the pliers he had set down before, "Maybe even nicked an artery… But as long as he's got the same strong will as before he won't just flop over and die; no need to look so worried Ms… uh…"

"Soi Fon," she replied drily, "And I'm not _worried_, I'm disgusted."

"Oh, well, Szayel Apporo Granz at your service miss," he smiled again, "And at least you're not wailing on the floor like some of my patients accompaniments do."

"As if I would shed tears for this fool," she shook her head, "I have no doubt that he'll come back just as annoying as before."

Soi Fon paused, thinking. The name 'Granz' sounded very familiar…

"Are you related to Yylfordt by chance?" she asked. Szayel tensed, but did not look at her.

"Ah, yes, my idiot of an older brother," he said stiffly, "It seems you met my father's undisciplined, uneducated, hell spawn which he sired with that _whore_…" he trailed off, his words becoming nothing more than furious and unintelligible muttering for a moment before he turned to her again, "Well, disregarding that, I think it's time to start the procedure now. Bansai!"

He inserted the ends of the pliers into the wound carefully, twisting a bit. His face lit up as he seemed to find something.

"Ah, here it is, but I can't-"

Soi Fon jumped as Ggio's hand jerked convulsively by her, gripping the edge of the table white knuckled. Her eyes moved swiftly to his face, and she found him to be an ashy gray color, eyes wide and teeth clenched.

"Shit, this thing is really _stuck_-" Szayel continued, eyebrows furrowed over his glasses with concentration as he tugged on whatever he had a hold of in Ggio's shoulder.

The slight black haired man in question screamed then, losing his grip on the table as he tried to pull away from what was causing him so much agony.

"Hey! Soi… uh… lady!" Szayel cried, obviously having forgotten her name already, "Hold him still!"

Soi Fon looked at him like he was crazy, but it was no time to be prissy about things, so she complied, stepping forward and grabbing the writhing man by the wrists and stretching her body across his to try and pin him. He was stronger than she anticipated, however, because when Szayel touched the edge of the wound with the pliers for a second try, Ggio pulled away from her, almost elbowing her in the face in the process.

"This isn't working," Szayel panted after a bit, the bloody pliers hanging from his limp fingers, glaring over at Ggio who was then semi curled up on the red stained, wrinkled table cloth, chest heaving.

"No shit," Soi Fon ground out, "Does he even know what he's doing?"

"Probably not," Szayel shrugged, "It's most likely a mental preservation response… I think he's in shock from losing so much blood."

"Why not just give him some of the anesthetic then?" she snapped, "This could have been over already if you would!"

"Ah, well," Szayel laughed a bit awkwardly, "That's the problem, I don't have any left… my boss brought over this red headed nurse with a huge rack, and one of my coworkers to take care of, and she wouldn't let me piece him back together without using up what anesthetic I _did _have… she said it was cruel."

Looking at Ggio, Soi Fon could agree with the aforementioned red haired woman.

"Here," Szayel thrust the pliers at her and dropped them in her hands before walking back to the table; he wiped his face, leaving a smear of red on his pale cheek. He grabbed Ggio and stretched him out, saying "Since you can't hold his still you'll just have to get the bullet."

"No!" Ggio cried, straining to get away from the self proclaimed doctor, "No! Just leave it in!"

"Come on, hurry up," Szayel sighed. Soi Fon bowed her head, realizing she had no other choice, and came forward with the metal in her hands.

"Hold him still," she muttered.

"Of course,"

She suppressed a shudder as the pliers entered the dark hole in Ggio's body with the unpleasant feeling of running her hands over a slab of raw beef, and he tensed again, gasping in pain. She ignored him with some difficulty and continued on; the metal grated against something that was not of a fellow substance and she thought that while she was not a medical professional, it must have been a shard of bone broken off from the whole. She suddenly felt contact with another object, metal this time, and opened the pliers a bit to take hold of it. She had expected to be able to extract it, but it remained firmly trapped in Ggio's body.

She played a gruesome tug of war with the bullet, purposely drowning out Ggio's cries with mental noise, thinking of anything but what she was doing.

Her hands suddenly pulled free, Ggio's pain so great that he seemed to have had the wind knocked out of him, preventing him from making a sound. Soi Fon stood there as Szayel hurriedly pressed a hand against the hole to stop the flow of blood and began bandaging it as tightly as he could.

"Broken collar bone," he was murmuring, "possible necessity of a blood transfusion, approximately thirty-four percent blood loss; Chance of encountering MOF twenty percent, no accessible AOE in the area, survival rate as high as eighty, maybe as low as seventy-three…"

Soi Fon meanwhile examined the twisted metal she had pulled from the other man's body. It seemed to be a hollow point bullet, but she knew that those were supposed to burst upon impact with a body and leave shrapnel in the skin. It was a military grade bullet, but she supposed having it ricochet was the only thing that had stopped it from traveling straight _through _Ggio. That would have been better, she thought, a clean hole rather than the messy, ragged thing that was there… but a shot straight through would have _destroyed _his shoulder, blowing the bone to smithereens.

Szayel was still mumbling to himself, "… In the event of hemorrhagic shock there is possibility for circulation to cease… recovery time for bones about four to six weeks at the very earliest, flesh reparation will take much longer, possibly another month with a hundred percent chance of scarring… I need to find the S-bind sling…"

Four to six weeks, he had said.

Soi Fon plopped down in a chair by the wall, staring at Ggio, who couldn't see her from his position. She wasn't even sure if he was conscious, as he'd been slipping in and out while Szayel had been bandaging him up.

Four to six _weeks_.

"You," she said flatly to the man on the table, "are a fucking _idiot_."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well, I spent the night at a firework show, so I DO apologize for the lateness of this post, but I'm not going to lie, I had a lot of fun. We also went to a haunted house, in which case the guy I was with made me go in front of him for every room, haha!**

**Well, I hope everyone enjoys this anyway, and sorry again for how late this is…. Drop a review if you have the time! Thanks for reading! ;)**

In Triplicate 

Ggio took a shuddering breath, the pain of coming into consciousness slamming into him like an express train to the chest, telling him not to _breathe _because _shit_, he didn't have _lungs _anymore, and the air he was taking in wasn't air at all, but fucking _lava_….

He coughed slightly, his throat raw, God knew _why_… he was laying on something hard and wet… actually, half his body felt as though it was coated with some half-dried liquid.

He'd woken up like this once after a party; not a fantastic feeling, trying to figure out where the hell your shirt was and wondering who had taken upon themselves to draw on you with what seemed to lipstick and eyeliner.

Something indicated that this was a very different situation, however. Most likely the fact that he was _freezing_, that he and Soi Fon had walked into a prison contrary to common sense, and the smell of blood was sharp in his nose…. Yeah, especially that last part. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking as the world came into focus. He seemed to be in a kitchen, and he recognized it quite easily.

He'd woken up in that exact room far too many times for his taste. He rolled onto the side of his body that hurt less and placed his feet onto the tile to stand, his legs buckling under him. He tried to grab the table to keep his balance, but found one of his arms most disconcertingly useless, dangling limply. Also, that side of his body looked like someone had taken an industrial roller of red paint to his skin.

"Oh," a female voice said flatly, "Well that was fast."

"What?" his voice was rough; he cleared his throat harshly, and all that did was cause his a little spear of pain, as if he didn't have enough of that, to shoot down into his chest. He winced and leaned back onto the table edge, removing his supporting arm to press his hand over his surprisingly still lively heart.

Soi Fon came into his oddly narrow line of vision, and he blinked again, his vision still somewhat blurry.

"Oh, Soi Fon…" that was as far as he got before his head was rocked back with the sheer force of the slap that streaked across his face, leaving a clearly flaming handprint in its wake.

"Slapping an invalid is _most _unkind, Ms. Soi Fon," a second voice called laughingly from the door way. Ggio groaned and dropped his head, not from getting hit, but because that voice was _not _one that he wanted to hear. He sighed and lifted his head again, refusing to turn around.

"Szayel," he greeted stiffly, his sharp gold eyes flicking to Soi Fon and holding her gaze.

"I have to say, Ggiovanni," Szayel smiled as he came around the side of the table, now dressed spotlessly in a pair of gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt, his pink hair pinned away from his face with a yellow clip, "This is definitely one of the worse times you've come through here."

"Is it now," Ggio muttered, voice still cold.

"Yup," there was a hiss as Szayel popped the top off a bottle of cola, "What the hell were you doing that you would end up with a military grade bullet lodged half way through your shoulder?"

"I wonder," came the noncommittal answer as Ggio gripped his disconnected arm at the elbow. He was still staring at Soi Fon, holding her gaze, which was unmistakably hostile.

"Oh!" the doctor cried, "Here's the sling, hold on…."

Soi Fon watched as Ggio stood stock still and allowed Szayel to strap his useless arm across his chest with a long strip of dark blue cloth. After that, the pink haired physician tossed a damp rag at his patient.

"Clean yourself up, yes?" he asked, "And thank your lady friend for dragging your fat ass up here."

With that, he left the room, pushing his glasses up his nose as he went, drink in hand.

"So," Ggio sighed, "Do I even want to know how we ended up here? Or why you decided to take your hand to my face like I had a tarantula on my cheek?"

"No," Soi Fon snapped, "What you _do _want to know, and this is also why is that your recovery time will take a month and a half at the earliest. Do you know what could _happen_ in one and a half months?"

"Well sorry, I'll make sure that next time I'll be sure to scratch getting shot off my agenda before I try to help you," Ggio snorted sarcastically, immediately regretting it as his chest twinged with agony. He released a breath slowly and went back to wiping blood off himself.

"That's not even the main problem!" Soi Fon bit out at him, "I thought you said that those blonde idiots knew what they were doing!"

"They did," Ggio replied tersely, "I would assume, since plenty of people have a wish to want to bump me off, someone else paid them more. Or, because they _are _human, they just messed up."

"Why is it that believing either one of those options does _not _improve my mood in the slightest?"

"Because, love," Ggio grumbled, "you're a tightass bitch."

Szayel smiled to himself in the back room as he heard the distinct sound of flesh on flesh, followed by Ggio yelping in pain.

…

"Please…. No!" the howl of desperate panic rang off the cement walls of the empty storehouse in downtown Karakura, reverberating around the room and echoing with such terrible fear that it caused the screaming man's companions to bow their heads with their own terror as they knelt on the floor without a chance at escape, arms strapped painfully behind their backs with industrial cord.

"You strayed from the path of righteousness," a dark skinned man of average height said quietly, looking down at the person who had been begging but could now only choke out a horrified sob, "And those who stray from Aizen's protection must be disposed of. We already know you've had contact with, and even went so far as to help Ggiovanni Vega and his companion Tesla Lindocruz; there's no point in concealing their position."

"We don't know-!" Di Roy screamed again, his cry cutting off into a sharp strangled sound as blood began to run down his face.

Findorr could do nothing but stare in sick fascination; the blue cloth that was customarily wound around his workmate's head was unraveled and stained red. The dark man, who even now stared blindly through his sun glasses at his prey, pushed the barrel of the gun into the empty eye socket that had lain behind the fabric with ruthless force that caused the other two men to tremble in anticipation of their own punishments.

"You don't know…" Kaname Tousen murmured, "Then I have no use for you."

"Don't!"

The gun went off in the man's hand and literally blew Di Roy's brains out, blood spraying everywhere, fragments of skull and flesh hitting the floor with an awful splatter a full thirty seconds before the rest of Di Roy fell with a muffled thud, his body falling so that his one good eye seemed to stare at Yylfordt, pleading for help.

"Tousen," another man's voice, low and lazy rumbled from the corner, "You seem to be handling this fine on your own, can Tier and I go? I need to pick Lilinette up from school."

"Endure, Stark. This will be over soon," Tousen replied, stepping around Ggio to stand before the trembling Findorr.

"Are you going to be useful to me?" he asked, running one hand through his tightly braided hair.

"Exacto!" Findorr cried even as dread welled up in him, "I can tell you what we sold them!"

"We already know," Tousen sighed, "Our Bat has sharp ears. Sharper than mine."

"O-oh, really? Then Ulquiorra…"

"You sold the pair of them ID tags to get into the prison."

"Exacto," the second blonde in the line answered uneasily, knowing what would come next.

"What did they want in the prison? Rather, who?"

"T-there was a woman with them," Findorr stammered, "A friend of Ggio's. A friend of that friend got arrested at that incident at the museum with the jewels that Aizen wanted to use for-"

The gun went off a second time, and Findorr sagged to the floor without a sound, his voice dying with the rest of him, blood spilling from between his violet-gray eyes.

"He knew too much for your taste, huh?" Stark asked, getting up off the floor, putting his hands into the pockets his fur hooded sweatshirt and walking to stand over the two bodies, a tanned woman in a halter top and white shorts following close behind him, her tousled blonde hair tied into three thin locks with silver beads, "A pity. I liked the guy."

"You…" The three people standing around the corpses looked over at the last of the trio, Yylfordt as he spoke up, "You won't get anything from me that you don't already know."

"I very much doubt that," Tousen said calmly as he approached the final man, "The name of the person in the prison that they wanted; what was it?"

"I don't know," the blonde answered tiredly, "Ggio didn't trust us; not really."

"Why did they try to take the jewels?"

Yylfordt only shrugged. He was used to coming up on top, and being the underdog didn't suit his taste in the slightest. It had been risky business, after all… he wondered if the card he had give Ggio had worked. He supposed after a moment that it didn't matter either way; if Aizen had known that they had helped Ggio, his lapdog Ulqiorra had told him that the goods were prison passkeys, the black haired man and his female friend were probably dead in a ditch somewhere out of sight.

Tousen leveled the gun at Yylfordt's face.

"Szayel," Tier said flatly.

"Tier's right," Stark yawned, rubbing the dark bags under his eyes, "Won't Szayel be upset if you off his older brother?"

Yylfordt's harsh, humorless laughter rang around the room.

"No," he said after a while, "He'll probably throw a party, or at least wear something completely untraditional to my funeral- if he attends, that is."

"You… might not get a funeral, Yylfordt Granz," Tousen said in muted tones, "But I have no doubt that your brother will be informed of your death."

Yylfordt heaved a sigh and turned his face upward.

It really sucked, but at least he got to go out with a bang.

He wondered what would happen to Soi Fon's friend in prison. Poor bastard would probably die there. A sharp spire of hatred for Aizen's crime empire speared through the blonde man.

_Fuck the mafia; fuck Aizen too. Whatever the hell you were doing to drag him down, Ggio, I hope you finish it. If you're still alive. You better fucking finish it. _

The gun went off in the empty storehouse for a third and final time that night, and a third body hit the ground, falling into the pool of blood from the others to make his own contribution.

…..

"That really hurt," Ggio grumbled, rubbing his face. The hand-shaped weal had faded but his skin still burned under his cold fingertips. He was still working on scrubbing blood off of himself, and Soi Fon had lapsed into brooding silence.

"She was worried about you," Szayel yelled from the other room, "You should at least thank her!"

"I was not _worried_!" Soi fon snapped back at the doctor.

"Fine. _Thank you_, Soi Fon," Ggio said, bowing slightly with a blood soaked rag in one hand, his skin as pale as before and his stance looking weak. She didn't miss the way his hands were shaking, or the steely glint of pain in his golden gaze. Her eyes traveled again across his scarred torso; it wasn't that she had never noticed the shining silvery patches against his tanned skin, but she had never thought about the story, the _agony_ behind each one.

"You should sit down," she huffed, "Before you collapse and I have to try and drag you around again."

"I'll be fine."

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Szayel popped his head around the doorframe from the hallway.

"One of you get that; I can assume who that is and I _don't _want to talk to her."

Ggio sighed, and walked to the door, pulling it open with his good arm.

"The neighbors were complaining about screaming, doctor, I have to ask that- oh!" the young woman from the front desk squeaked, meeting Ggio's gaze sunken in his ashen face over his blood smeared chest, the red rag hanging carelessly over one shoulder. Soi Fon watched the exchange from behind her companion, looking over his arm where he leaned against the doorjamb.

"Well I'm done screaming, but you can tell the neighbors to fuck off or find some earplugs," Ggio answered rudely, voice rough.

"Oh- Um… I'm sorry!" she said shrilly, "But also, th-there was a phone call for… for the doctor…"

"I don't want it!" Szayel's voice drifted out of the back room, "There's a reason I don't keep a phone in this room!"

"It's about your brother…"

"Seriously Marianne!" Szayel cried, "_Especially _not if it's him!"

"But doctor…"

"_What?!_"

"It's really, _really_ important!" Marianne burst out suddenly, "please, just take the message!"

"Fine," Szayel consented at last, trudging over to the door, "Shove over, Ggio. An invalid like you should be off sleeping somewhere."

"You-!"

"Let's go then, Marianne," Szayel sighed, exiting the room, "And this had better be as important as you say. I am a busy man."

"Yes sir," came the docile reply.

Several silent minutes later, in which Ggio slumped onto the couch and closed his eyes and Soi Fon poured herself a glass of lemonade from Szayel's fridge, making herself quite at home, the door opened again and Szayel reentered.

"So what's up with Yylfordt?" Ggio asked tiredly, keeping his eyes closed. Soi Fon glanced at Szayel's face, which was pale and slightly less lively than it had been before, as if his energy had drained from the soles of his feet.

"It's nothing," he said with a tight smile, his glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose, "My brother's just being an idiot as usual."

And that, Soi Fon thought to herself, was a boldfaced lie.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This chapter was originally intended to be more lighthearted, but it took a darker turn… my bad. Next chapter for sure is going to be a lot less… uh… gloomy. Enjoy, and leave me a review if you like!**

**-M.S.**

What's Cookin'? 

Soi Fon grew more or less used to staying in Szayel's home, although sleeping arrangements were a bit awkward; the doctor's apartment had only one bedroom, which he took for himself, and then a futon that folded out from the couch in the living room. Ggio was back to his usual self, it seemed, due to the fact that philandering bastard had offered to give her the futon… as long as he was in it as well.

"It's not like I can sleep on the floor," he had whined after her firm rejection that he been punctuated by a threat to relieve him of his manhood, "Have pity on a war hero!"

"War hero my ass!" she had snapped back, "And you'll just have to make due!"

"You could share _my _bed," Szayel offered to the black haired man with a somehow creepy smile, which gave Ggio chills and had him gratefully accepting a mattress on the kitchen floor.

Soi Fon thought about this as she attempted to step over Ggio's prone form, which had sprawled off of his mattress and spread halfway across the room, his good arm flung over his eyes as he breathed deeply through his nose. His wrinkled gray shirt, lent to him by the street physician, had pulled up to reveal his flat stomach, his boxers low on his hips. Soi Fon eventually gave up on trying to get to the cabinets for a drinking glass and instead moved back to the living room to wait for Ggio to wake up. He could be rather irrational when woken by unnecessary means, and the woman figured that if he slept more, then maybe his shoulder injury would be able to heal faster, and then they could go get Yoruichi….

There was a sudden loud thud from the kitchen, followed by an even louder stream of swearing.

"Dammit Szayel, you son of _bitch_, what the hell was that?!" Ggio yelled uproariously as Soi Fon when to go see what had happened. It appeared that Szayel had purposefully kicked the mattress from under the black haired invalid, tossing the man and the bedding halfway across the room. The feline man on the floor was practically spitting with fury, but upon getting no response from the pink haired doctor, proceeded to snatch his blankets and drag them into the hallway, curling up there instead.

"Soi Fon," Szayel greeted cordially from the kitchen as he poured himself a cup of water from a carafe kept in the refrigerator as if he had not just ruined someone's day, "Good morning."

"Morning," she answered shortly, glancing at the way he was dressed: a dark suit with a blue oxford and a purple tie, dress shoes completing the entirely un-Szayel-like look, "Important business today?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," the man replied cheerfully, "Since you asked, I'll tell you now…"

"What?"

"Well, the thing is, I'll be gone all day," he started with a smile, "So I won't be here to cook."

"So?" Soi Fon asked, a bit annoyed as she moved around him to pour a cup of coffee; she wondered for a moment if Tesla was rubbing off on her, but she hadn't seen that guy in over a week, as it had been eleven days since the fiasco at the prison.

"So I'll be asking you to make dinner tonight~!" Szayel finished, waltzing into the hall to the front door. Soi Fon almost spit out her mouthful of coffee as she heard this. She opened her mouth to protest but was cut off as Szayel uncaringly tread on Ggio a second time, kicking him in what _might_ have been a purposeful blow, in the side of the head.

"Szayel, I can't-"

"_You asshole, I'm going to_-"

"-Really do much-"

"_-Fucking kill you get your ass back here-"_

"-Concerning things in the kitchen…" the woman trailed off as the door closed behind her host with a sort of damning finality like a prison gate shutting or a guillotine falling. Her feeling of doom was not helped by the continuous dark muttering of Ggio's choice words as he nursed a rapidly darkening bruise under his eye.

…..

"What do you mean you don't know how to cook?" Ggio gritted out in an uncharacteristically ill temper, "you must be able to make _something_, like boxed macaroni, or cereal."

"I mean I'm an awful cook," Soi Fon answered harshly, "I burn _water_ for God's sake."

Ggio gave her a glare that had _'are you _kidding_ me?' _written all over it.

"I cook," she said shortly, "About as well as I drive. If that gives you any ideas."

Ggio's expression changed to one of blanched shock as he remembered the damage to the Aston Martin; the passenger side had been more or less scraped free of black paint, leaving a wide swatch of stark metal, and the side mirror was completely gone. He had laughed about that a little incredulously before thinking about how Tesla would react. He hadn't called the blonde yet for fear of the imminent fight that would spawn from the warped car.

"That… that's pretty bad. But you drove and we survived, so that means that your food is edible but gross…." He reasoned hopefully; Soi Fon was keeping a careful eye on him as his foul mood began to dissipate, "Right?"

"We," she assured him slowly, "Were _incredibly _lucky."

"Oh."

"Will you help me?"

Ggio paused and looked at her incredulously before glancing at his immobilized arm with raised eyebrows. He turned his eyes back to her and stared before she sighed in recognition of his condition.

"Fine," she huffed, "Just give me the orders and I'll cook to the best of my ability."

The black haired man puffed out his cheeks and blew out air discontentedly.

"Alright," he conceded reluctantly, "but only because my survival depends on your ability to follow directions."

…..

Szayel glanced up at the white skyscraper before him, its name ringing through his head with as much grandeur as when he had first stepped through the doors. It had been much less fantastic then, as he had first joined Aizen's group when it was a smaller operation….

_Las Noches_

The glass doors opened without his touch, the thin sheets which he knew to be bullet proof sliding smoothly, soundlessly, to the side.

"Master Szayel," a rotund man greeted, his long black hair swept back unpleasantly into a ponytail, a too-wide grin stretching on his face, "Welcome back."

"I'm in no mood for you groveling, Lumina," the doctor said darkly, his spark colored eyes flashing in anger as a second man, much the same as the first but with his hair parted down the middle in oily curtains stepped up, "Go find something productive to do with Verona. Before I kill you."

"Of course, Master Szayel," the second man piped up with a greasy sort of sycophantic, irritating tone; the doctor ignoring him and moving forward, taking an elevator to one of the top floor before walking down a long hallway set with man doors.

Szayel opened a door seemingly at random to a dimly lit room that seemed to be filled with twilight; it was lit by a large chandelier, luxuriously carpeted, and in the center of the room was a long oaken table that comfortably sat twelve people, no more, no less. The chair at the head the table was a great deal more ornate that the others, which were plain and made of the same wood, with straight backs and no arms to them.

Currently, only four of the chairs were filled, leaving large gaps in the seating arrangements and giving the room a somehow austere air despite the almost ostentatious décor that spoke of great wealth.

Szayel crossed the room and took his seat silently, golden gaze flicking between the other inhabitants in the room. The first, closest to the head of the table, was Stark, his booted feet up on the table and Lilinette in his lap as usual. Dog hair clung to his jeans, Szayel noticed with distaste; the man always reeked of canines, and his house was a thousand times worse due to his numerous pets of the species. A single chair spanned the gap between the dozing man before the next seat was filled by Tia, her arms crossed and her jacket collar hiding her mouth, though her bright eyes were trained on Szayel's face.

Across from the blonde woman, on Szayel's side of the table and closer still to his seat was a thickly muscled man with a wild shock of electric blue hair, his face sharp with ever-present anger that was ready to explode at any second. He was currently fiddling moodily with a hole in his dark coat which was worn open over a white shirt. Directly beside Szayel's chair was seated a tall African American man with white plugs, his hair kept closely shaved but for the ridge that passed down the top of his skull, a white choker showing clearly against his ebony skin. The man gave no indication that he had even noticed Szayel, continuing to shuffle a deck of cards in his hands.

"So," Szayel began pleasantly, "Where is everyone else?"

"Who knows?" the Stark yawned, stroking Lilinette's hair was he woke up to find her snoozing with her face buried in his chest.

"Batman's with the woman," the blue haired man grunted, "That's all I know. I don't give a shit about the other guys. Those four could go die and the world wouldn't change at all."

"That could be said of almost any man alive," the dark skinned man beside Szayel murmured, "Our lives change nothing…"

"Well that makes things complicated," the pink haired doctor continued with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, which shone coldly over his silver rimmed glasses, "Because I have a problem."

"Oh?" Tia's seldom hear voice inquired with a little more emotion than what would be considered disinterest, blinking coldly at the man who had spoken.

"My brother is dead," Szayel said, his voice sounding like it would be able to freeze alcohol though he had a thin smile still in place, "And one of the people who typically would fill one of these chairs caused it."

….

"Okay," Ggio said almost encouragingly, "We're going to make spaghetti; it's super easy, just heat up some noodles and dump some sauce from the fridge on them. Start by putting the water in the pot and turning on the stove burner."

Soi Fon did as she was asked, filling up a large silver pot with water from the tap and moving to the stove, the water sloshing around inside. She put it down and turned the knob for the burner to start… with a bit too much force it would seem. The fire flared up, licking around the sides of the pot and scorching the countertops.

"Whoa shit!" Ggio cried, leaning in from behind her to turn the burner down as quickly as possible with his good arm. Soi Fon tensed as his body came into brief contact with hers before he stepped back. He was still in the clothing he had slept in, as he found it extremely difficult to change clothes with only one arm and she refused to help him, but that didn't matter. He was…

He had gotten close to her suddenly and she had been startled, she told herself, that was all.

"Look at me;" he commanded, and she turned around to face him, "Listen carefully. When you're cooking, never, _eveeeer_ turn the burner up that high. You'll burn the house down."

"I told you I was no good at this," Soi Fon said reproachfully to cover her moment of embarrassment, fighting to keep a flush out of her cheeks.

"Well that's why I'm teaching you," he told her, not unkindly, "Although I don't understand how you survived this long without knowing how to cook…."

"I always had Yoruichi," she said quietly, thinking back, "Right after I left home she picked me up off the streets. I never had to learn to cook on my own."

"Hm…." Ggio's gaze seemed far away, clouded by what seemed to be sorrow, but after a moment he seemed to come back to himself and he became strangely unreadable as a small but somehow sharp smile touched his lips, "Well you're one of the lucky ones then! Must be nice, getting rescued like that."

"What?"

"Well, now we need to wait for the water to boil," he said quickly, ignoring her confusion at his words, "When it starts bubbling, put the noodles in and stir them every few minutes. I'm going to go _try_ to change clothes…"

Soi Fon watched his retreating back as he walked down the hall to the back room to filch too-large clothes from Szayel; for a brief moment she had seen something in his eyes that she recognized in herself. It was the nameless pain brought by rejection and loss, tempered with a dark fury that stemmed from being left behind. It was a stark, raw look, but he had covered it with his grin in less than a second.

It had been hidden in those ochre depths so quickly most others would wonder if they had really seen anything at all, but not Soi Fon. She knew what she had seen, and she trusted her eyes.

She was dragged out of her thoughts by a sudden strange hissing, her brow furrowing in confusion as she turned to see the pot boiling over, bubbles running over the shining side and onto the stovetop, leaving dark burn marks.

She blinked and reached out quickly, turning off the stove as Ggio reentered the room, baggy cargo pants belted low on his hips and a dark gray tank top hugging his form as he struggled with the sling straps. He had paled slightly, indicating that he had not fared as well as he could have hoped in the removal of the sling to change his clothes, but she hadn't heard his customary stream of swearing, so she assumed he was okay.

He glanced up at her vaguely, thrown off by her poker face stare, before he leaned around her to look at the pot. His face fell, and he breathed deeply through his nose, approaching the failed dish. He peered into the water, which, though still steaming, had calmed significantly, and watched the conglomerate ball of noodle-mess bob in the water.

"Well," Ggio commented, raising his eyebrows, "fuck that, that's not edible."

"Now what?" Soi Fon asked, refusing to apologize for the disaster in the pot. After all, she had _said _she was a bad cook, but did either of those pig-headed men listen to her? No, of course not! They were more stubborn than she was!

"Now I guess I end up cooking, despite my best efforts to avoid it, and then you will eat the food happily and graciously thank me for slaving over a hot stove," Ggio told her with a smirk, "But that last part won't happen, so I suppose you just get to starve."

"What?!" Soi Fon snapped, "I bet you're not any better at cooking than I am!"

Ggio laughed loudly.

"Ah, you're wrong on that," he grinned, "But it's not like I can prove it to you, since I won't let you eat any of my food without proper compensation."

"Compensation?" she gritted, "Like what?"

He began pulling random ingredients out of the refrigerator with one hand, setting the food on the counter.

"Dump that mess in the sink," he commanded, his head in the fridge as he dug around for things to cook with, "And if you want to eat… you could sleep in the kitchen and give me the futon? Holy shit, there are blood packets in here…"

"And if I won't?" she bit at him, answering both requests at once.

He pulled back out of the icebox and looked at her with annoyance clear in his eyes.

"Just move the pot, little bee."

"Don't call me that!" she cried, beginning to move the pot anyway. There was a loud clang from behind her as Ggio hefted a skillet awkwardly onto the stove top with one hand, muttering a curse as he did so.

"This thing is so fucking annoying," he grumbled, dragging the rest of his ingredients over to him and beginning to crack eggs into the iron skillet, dropping the shells into the silvery trashcan at his side.

"Well it's your fault that happened," Soi Fon muttered.

"Please," Ggio snorted, "We've been over this."

She remained silent, simply watching him as he began to add cheese and scallions to the egg mix on the stove, flipping it to make an omelet. The food hissed as it cooked, Ggio pouring a quantity of rice into a water-filled glass casserole dish and placing the whole thing in the microwave.

After a while, the anger left his face and he simply stood at the oven, watching the food with a close eye. He poured the rice into the skillet with the egg and began to stir it with quick, sharp movements, but Soi Fon was only watching his face.

He looked vaguely happy, the usual sarcastic element in his features gone.

"Do you like cooking?" she asked suddenly, and he glanced up at her surprised.

"Well… yeah, I guess," he replied slowly, "Menoly taught me how to cook after my dad- after I left home." He stopped himself midsentence before continuing, and a smile found its way onto his face again, "I was pretty hungry before that, living off ramen like a college student!"

Soi Fon fell silent again, thinking. Ggio was acting strange, almost nostalgic, in a way she had never seen him when he was around Tesla. She wondered if it had to do with their surroundings, or maybe even with Szayel himself.

She blinking, finding him suddenly very close to her and staring directly into her eyes.

"Spacing out?" he asked with a smirk, "Ah, and I just had another idea for what you could give me in exchange for food…" he puckered his lips mockingly before dodging her open-handed blow with a laugh.

She had changed her mind; he was being just as infuriating and stupid as every other day she'd known him.

...

"I told you he'd be upset," Stark sighed, his pale gaze lighting on Tia, who only nodded. He glanced back at Szayel, whose smile was more of a snarl at this point.

"So it was you," he commented, voice smooth, "Coyote Stark."

"I was there," the man replied, sitting up and still cradling the little school girl to his chest to avoid waking her, "But I didn't do it personally."

"Is that so?" the doctor asked chillingly, "You got one of your subordinates to off my brother then? Too lazy to do it yourself?"

Stark ignored the jibe and glanced at his blonde companion again.

"Tousen did it himself," the man answered, shifting the girl in his arms into a more comfortable position, "Your brother did something to piss off Aizen, Szayel; there was nothing either Tia or I could have done about it. Sorry."

"_Sorry_," the young physician hissed furiously before raising his voice for the others to hear, "Of course not. Of course there was nothing to be done, but he was my brother, after all. Would you say the same if I watched someone put a gun to Lilinette's head and blow _her _brains out?"

"It's not the same," Stark answered, looking a bit riled now, "Lilinette serves her purpose, and Aizen knows it."

Szayel had heard just about enough, and he stood up, slamming his hand palm down on the table top before throwing his chair back.

"Strange," the blue haired brawn smirked, "I wouldn't have taken you to be a family man, Szayel."

"And I wouldn't have taken you to be the type to end up as a caretaker for a brain-damaged bitch, Grimmjow," the doctor said coldly as he walked by the man, "The world is full of surprises after all."

"Don't you talk about her like-!"

The door swung closed behind Szayel, his long stride carrying him down the hallway in an instant, rage seething inside of him. He needed to blow off steam, but what to do? He would usually entertain himself by finding some small animal and dissecting it at his apartment, but…

"Leaving so soon, Master Szayel?" Lumina asked subserviently, "Well I hope you-"

After a moment's consideration, Szayel reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a Ruger LPC 380 compact pistol, in pulled the trigger in an instant, watching Lumina's head whip back with the force of the bullet that had torn through his skull. The body slumped to the ground with a satisfying thud, and he regarded it curiously.

"L-Lumina…" Verona choked, having witnessed the death from the other side of the room.

"Do you think that hurt him, Verona?" Szayel asked, "Do you think he suffered? I wonder."

Szayel left the body where it was, tucking his gun back into his pocket and leaving the building.

Had it hurt him? Had Yylfordt suffered?

Szayel wondered.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry this is late. It's getting posted at 2 AM without a proofread because of stupid homecoming week… on the upside, the flag football team I'm part of took first in our tourney! I hope you enjoy this rather more lighthearted chapter! Ggio's a naughty boy…**

Foul Play

Ggio groaned, blinking open his eyes and letting his amber gaze settle on the light fixture on the kitchen ceiling for a full minute before it occurred to him that he was awake. He'd woken up to being half off the mattress again, and his shoulder hurt like hell, but at least Szayel hadn't kicked him in the ribs this time.

He glanced vaguely over at his useless arm, which being out of its sling for the night, was stretched out at his side. The sling was uncomfortable and itchy, but it had its uses… like now. It would have been great to have been wearing the sling now, because he could have just sat up and walked around without any problems. But being the self-rated dumbass that he was, he had taken off the sling and left it in the bathroom before going to sleep, despite Szayel's advice. He was also shirtless and fairly cold, considering that he was laying on tile without a blanket.

The pink haired doctor had been strangely cold since he had come back from whatever important business he had gone to take care of, his coat reeking of gunsmoke. Ggio could guess where he had been, but he didn't question it. He had nothing to do with that group anymore, aside from meddling in their affairs every now and then. He had backed out a while ago.

Thus, he now had to hold his left arm to his side with his right to keep it from shifting too much before rolling over to stand. His shoulder throbbed painfully as he did so, causing him to grit his teeth, still half asleep despite the sharp jolt; the pain seemed to belong to another part of his mind, the half that was connected to his body. He cursed as he stumbled upright, almost tripping as a sheet wrapped itself around his ankle.

"Ahhh, fuck," he mumbled, shaking it off sleepily with the intention of shambling off to the bathroom in search of his sling. He halted, however, at the sight of a pale pink slip of paper on the table at his side. Fluid writing, so much different than his own spidery, spiky scrawl, and certainly not the tiny letters that Soi Fon wrote in, were scripted across the page.

_I've gone shopping, _the paper read, _We were out of milk and coffee creamer, as well as eggs; I should be back soon. If this is Ggio, then get your lazy ass out of bed and put your damn sling on. If this is Soi Fon, keep an eye on the idiot. Love Szayel_

Ggio wrinkled his nose and allowed the paper to spiral listlessly out of his hand. Huh, lazy was he? It's not like he could leave the apartment without the chance that someone would recognize him… he really couldn't risk being seen, not in the condition he was in. It wasn't like it would be hard for him to shoot one handed, he'd done it often enough God knew, but on the off chance…

He shook his head tiredly to clear the clutter of thoughts that were swarming over his brain.

"Too damn early…" he muttered, wandering into the hall toward the bathroom. He opened the door to a billow of steam and the sound of rushing water, blinking blankly as he took a few steps in and remembered that the lock on the door was broken, and it had been for quite awhile because Szayel was about as useless as they came concerning fixing things in a normal manner, his patients included.

It took him a moment to realize that he was standing in the middle of the bathroom when someone was taking a shower, and that someone happened to be glaring startled daggers at him through the glass pane that formed the shower wall. He raised his eyes from the counter where he had been looking, his brain finally assessing the situation with proper care.

He looked across the room at Soi Fon, who had frozen with her fingers tangled in her knee-length hair, soap running into the raven locks like silver streams. Her silvered brown eyes narrowed at him as he stared; her position gave him a perfect view of her whole body. She was rather flat-chested, yes, but she made up for it with her flat stomach and wide hips that became strong, slender legs…

His ochre gaze suddenly flicked back up to her face, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Not bad," he commented slowly, as if appraising artwork, "No, better than not bad; actually-"

"Get. Out," Soi Fon gritted, still frozen in either fury or pure mortified shock, "Now."

"Alright, alright," Ggio answered, raising his good arm to chest height in surrender, backing up slowly toward the exit and almost tripping over himself.

"_Get the fuck out you pervert!"_ she shouted quite a bit louder as he took his sweet time getting to the door. He closed it carefully and allowed what he had just seen to sink in.

It was true, Soi Fon was not bad looking, far from it actually. He had never really noticed, but she had a good body and a pretty enough face… for a moment he had been tempted to stay in the room and recant any claims against her, but then reality slapped him in the face again; it was clearer than the purest water that she didn't like him, so it was better that he quit while he was ahead.

Ggio snorted and began to walk back into the kitchen, scratching at the bandages that were wound over his bare chest and trying to stretch; it then hit him that one side of him was disconcertingly useless. He looked down at his arm and sighed. He'd forgotten the damn sling in the bathroom. He'd already seen her naked, it couldn't do much _more _damage to go in a second time, he figured.

He turned on heel and opened the bathroom door a second time without knocking. He stepped in to see that Soi Fon was out of the shower now, standing on the bathroom mat dripping wet, and drying her hair on a fresh white towel that contrasted with the midnight strands. There was no longer a pane of glass between them, Ggio realized, and he swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as murderous eyes met his.

"I… uh, I just came to get this," he said blankly as he picked up the sling off the counter without moving his eyes from her face. His brain seemed to have short circuited, but he didn't really care…

"As soon as I put some clothes on," the woman growled, "I am going to kill you."

"Please, don't," Ggio replied shaking his head slightly, eyes wide.

"Begging for your life?" she snarled, snatching her panties off the shelf where they had been folded among her other clothes.

"I meant don't put on your clothes," Ggio said, blinking at her, "Just stay… like that."

"You're disgusting!" she shrieked. The dark haired man didn't miss the sharp flush that had been creeping up Soi Fon's face, even though he was edging his way toward the door as she pulled her panties on and grabbed her shorts, "_I'm going to kill you!_"

"Aha… I'll just be going now…" the man laughed nervously, closing the door gently behind him and fumbling with his sling. She was going to come after him, and he at least wanted his injured side partially immobilized before she did.

He only made it to the living room, just beyond the kitchen, before Soi Fon came tearing out of the bathroom. She had forgone her shirt, only wearing a blue patterned bra and her jean shorts, which were unbuttoned and unzipped. She stumbled over a bathmat in her haste, but went on, undeterred.

"Oh shit," was all Ggio managed before the enraged woman took him out at the knees, taking him to the ground with her. His breath wooshed out of him upon contact with the tile, and he winced as his head smacked against the hard floor.

"You…. Filthy… _lecher_!" Soi Fon shouted as she jumped from the floor to sit on his chest, effectively pinning him under her so he couldn't escape. She closed her fingers around his throat, but Ggio found that that in itself was not overly effective. He wasn't a large man by any stretch of the imagination, but Soi Fon was just too small to do any real harm while trying to throttle him. Not that it wasn't uncomfortable, and it was a possibility that he might pass out, but he wouldn't die… he hoped.

No, more painful to him was the fact that, sitting on his chest, Soi Fon had her knee pressed over his shoulder. The weight was not excessive, but he could tell that if she chose to do so, she could render him completely immobile with the slightest shift in balance.

"How dare you!" she bit out, raising a hand to slap him, "You revolting, philandering _drunk_!"

"Foul play!" Ggio gasped, "I haven't had alcohol since we left the bar!"

"Shut up!" she shouted, bringing her hand across his face in a hearty open-handed blow and raising it for a second strike as the door banged open. Szayel stood there grinning vaguely, plastic grocery bags in his hands before he saw what was going on in his living room. His smile became a look of almost horrified confusion as he took in the scene.

"I didn't know you were in to that type of thing… I didn't take Soi Fon to be a dominatrix," Szayel said slowly before looking at Ggio, "Does Tesla know?"

"Yes," the black haired man answered stupidly before he realized what he had just said, "I mean no! I meant he's seen us in this position before!"

"_What_?!" Both Soi Fon and Szayel cried at the same time, the doctor sounding shell-shocked and Soi Fon sounding repelled.

"No! Wait! I meant this isn't what it looks like!"

"Right…" Szayel skeptically carried his bags to the kitchen, "That's not a very convincing argument. I know I said you two couldn't use my bedroom, but _honestly_… the living room? Really?"

"Szayel, this is-!"

"He's disgusting, I would never-!"

"Ow, fuck, Soi Fon get off my shoulder-!"

"Don't even imply that I'd be with someone like Ggio-!"

"Alright, alright, just shut up the two of you," Szayel sighed as he put a carton of eggs into the refrigerator, "And put some clothes on for pity's sake, this is disturbing."

Soi Fon got up off of Ggio, finally giving the man proper room to breathe and stalked off to find the rest of her clothing before the man on the floor got up carefully and walked to the kitchen.

Szayel paused and placed his hands palms down on the counter, his yellow eyes tracing the lines in the granite counter tops as Ggio stopped beside him.

"I feel I've done something rather stupid, Ggiovanni," the doctor said quietly, uncharacteristically serious, not even looking up as Soi Fon reentered the room, now with a shirt and sweater pulled on, her black hair mussed but with her typical long braids now plaited in.

"Oh?" Ggio questioned, not overly curious, but feeling that he should ask anyway. Szayel was probably throwing a hissy fit over nothing like he usually did.

"Yes, I," a thin, cold smile crept onto the man's face, "Grew rather too angry with the establishment and ended up killing a subordinate. You should know all about that, but you were usually on the receiving end, weren't you?"

Soi Fon narrowed her eyes, wondering in what 'establishment' one could off a coworker and not get fired before noticing the look on Ggio's face. It was one of stony rage, his ochre eyes shining as cold as starlight, his shoulders tense.

"Shut up," he said flatly, not even blinking.

"Of course, you always managed to escape… you had fast feet, still do."

"Shut up."

"I suppose that's why Louisenbairn kept you around, but you weren't the only one working for him."

"_Shut up_."

"You and Findorr both worked for him, didn't you? You were the least loyal of his dogs, but he kept you anyway, he picked you up off the streets to stop you from scrounging dumpsters like a mongrel-"

"_SHUT THE HELL UP!" _Ggio roared, and Soi Fon had to actively stop herself from jumping as his voice sounded in the small room with such force it made her ears ring. He looked absolutely livid, like he wanted to hit Szayel as hard as he could; his almost playful expression, which she found irritatingly likeable, almost cute, had vanished in the hard-cut fury that blazed on his feline features. "_I stayed when I wanted to and left when I felt like it_. I'm not associated with them anymore, and I owe them _nothing_."

"Except your little 'debt', isn't that right?" Szayel mocked, goading Ggio further. The black haired man snarled and left the room, and after a moment there was a sound of a slamming door. Soi Fon stared at Szayel as the man's shoulders drooped.

"I really should stop taking out my frustration on him," the pink haired man commented after a second, turning back to the half emptied plastic bags on his counter.

"Who is this 'Louisenbairn'?" Soi Fon asked warily, her mind processing all that had been implicated in that short exchange. Ggio had been living on the streets at a young age, that much was apparent, and someone named Louisenbairn had taken him in, but Ggio had betrayed the man and left. But who was the man?

"Louisenbairn Baragan," Szayel answered with his back to her, "One of the ten division heads of the Espada, and though he works in a different section than I do, still a coworker."

"And Ggio… used to work for this man?" she asked slowly.

"Yes," Szayel replied, sounding surprised, "Both Tesla and Ggio were part of the Espada. Didn't you know?"

"No," Soi Fon murmured, eyes narrowing, "No I didn't."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: And just in time for Halloween…. Enter, Ulquiorra! :D**

Contact with a Bat

"I think we should start looking in to revisiting the prison," Ggio said suddenly one gloomy afternoon. It had been raining for the past week, ever since Ggio's tiff with Szayel. Soi Fon hadn't asked the black haired man about his previous affiliation to the Espada, not after watching him almost lose it in the kitchen. An hour after the conversation he had spoken to Szayel as if nothing had happened, but Soi Fon could tell he was still angry, despite his cool smile. She gave him a disbelieving look now.

"Your arm is going to be like that for another two weeks, at least," she snorted, "How are we going to get in and out of the prison with you like that?"

"Two weeks tops," he corrected her, holding up two fingers, "recovery time is four to six weeks, so I'm saying four, regardless of how it looks at that point. We don't have time to waste. And I don't mean go kicking in the door _now_, but I have someone rather more reliable to get in contact with."

Soi Fon groaned and put her head in her hands, "More of your stupid contacts?"

"Hey now," Ggio said with a smile as he turned away from the foggy window where he had been staring out at the empty street, "This guy is one hundred percent reliable, _if _we can get him to work with us."

"If?" she asked suspiciously, glaring up at his disarming ochre gaze, "And if not?"

"If not, we're in trouble, but I think I can work something out with him," Ggio told her, a sly look coming into his face.

"Oh goody," Soi Fon muttered irritably, "So how are we going to get in contact with this guy? Your cell phone?"

"What? Oh hell no," the man cried, looking mildly panicked, "No no, no, not on the cell. If it goes badly he could use the cell to track it back to us, and that would be bad. We're going to use one of the payphones outside, probably one a block or so over."

"In the rain?" she complained.

"Of course!" Ggio laughed, "Haven't you ever splashed in puddles? The rain is fun!"

"I'm glad _you _think so…" Soi Fon grumbled, "I guess I'll go get my jacket…"

"Yup!" the black haired man beamed, "I'll meet you in the hall."

…..

Several minutes later, Soi Fon found herself squeezed into a phone box with Ggio, her body pressed as far away from him as possible in the small space. She could have stood outside, but she hated, hated, _hated_ the rain… so against her better judgment she was in the box as Ggio pushed a few coins into the slot and dialed a number after referencing his cell phone list of contacts.

"Hello?" he asked after a moment, eyebrows furrowing. He seemed to hear something strange, because one of his eyebrows shot up while the other remained where it had been. She gave him a questioning look, but he only shook his head and continued listening, "Hellloooo? Oh! There you are Batman. What the fuck is going on on your end? It sounds like you're running from an angry mob. What? … Oh. Oh yeah, well that would make sense. Sorry."

Soi Fon sighed and slumped against the glass wall of the box, their body heat having fogged it up, and began drawing in the white film, listening to Ggio talk.

"Yeah, it's Ggiovanni; I thought you woulda recognized my voice on your own Batman…. You really want me to call you by your first name?" the black haired man sighed, "Alright, _alright_, I understand Ulquiorra. Sorry, jeez…"

_Ulquiorra? _Soi Fon wondered at the strange name, mouthing to herself. It twisted her tongue oddly.

"Well no," Ggio was saying, "No I actually called you for work. I heard you were doing side jobs outside of your normal payroll?... What do you mean 'no'? I guess your girlfriend's hospital bills aren't really that necessary if you're turning down work. How do _I _know? You're not the only one with an information network, Mr. Schiffer."

Ggio's eyes widened, and his ochre gaze flicked nervously to Soi Fon, holding her stare for half a second before he started digging in his pockets for more change.

"Of course," he continued smoothly, despite the nervous look on his face, "Of course, but I'm not asking for much, just… Meet in person?"

He held out an open hand to Soi Fon, gesturing at the coin slot. She sighed and placed a couple of quarters in his hand, and he flashed her a smile.

"I suppose so… yes, well he's not too fond of me, for obvious reasons…. I guess so. Fine. Tonight? No, that doesn't work for me, how about tomorrow morning, I have plans tonight. Ahh, you guessed it, I _do_ have plans with a woman as a matter of fact, but not the way you're thinking. Speaking of which, how is _your _woman doing? I heard Aizen fucked her up pretty bad, not just physically… that's why she's in the hospital, isn't it?"

Ggio gave a somewhat nervous laugh after this, having paused to listen for a moment.

"I was just asking out of concern, but if you don't want to talk… okay, tomorrow then. Sorry to bother you, we'll smooth things out in person. Yeah. Later Batman."

Ggio hung up the phone and promptly slumped against the glass in relief.

"I thought I was gonna die!" he cried, "That guy is so fucking emotionless, it would be less scary if he just got _mad_!"

"'Plans with a woman?'" Soi Fon asked suspiciously, "Who might this 'woman' be?"

"You, obviously!" he said, surprise coloring his tone, "It's still early, so I thought we could hide out from Szayel out here… guy get's damn annoying, especially since I haven't left the apartment in a while. Cabin fever is killer."

She stared hard at him, trying to decide if he was serious.

"Really? What would we do, if I decided to go with you?"

"I don't know, grab a coffee? Puddle jump? Visit a pet store and play with the kittens until we get kicked out? What do you want to do? I'm just trying to avoid going back home," he laughed and pushed his dripping bangs out of his face.

"I guess we could get a coffee, but that won't take all night, it's not even noon yet," she pointed out.

"Oh, that…" his face dawned with realization before a strange look came over his face, "Well it was forecasted to rain tonight, and I didn't want to make you have to walk in the rain again."

She stared at him until he cleared his throat.

"We uh, probably look like weirdos, standing in a phone booth… let's go, shall we?" He smiled at her, holding the door to the booth open, "After you, madam"

Soi Fon accepted his show of grace and exited before him, trying to discern the look that had been on his face before. She thought about it the whole way to the coffee shop, but just didn't understand. She thought she knew what it _looked_ like, but it wasn't possible, so she ignored the possibility and kept thinking.

Ggio was so weird.

…..

The two ended up stopping at a café called Taza Buena, where Ggio got them a booth seat in the by the window so he could watch the rain. In short order he had a cup of Chai and a pastry set before him and she had an espresso in a chintzy blue mug.

The café set up was overall pleasing, a cozy place that was fairly quiet; silence had settled between the pair of them, Ggio's ochre gaze unfocused as he watched the people walk in the street, the pouring rain turning everything gray but for bright spots of color…

A little girl in a yellow rain coat crossing the street hand in hand with her mother passed a young boy with a bright green frog-patterned umbrella as he walked by a woman with a sky blue handbag while a man got in to an orange taxi that had stopped at the curb. These flares of color caught his attention, but briefly, the steam from his cup fogging the window until everything blurred and became unclear. Ggio closed his eyes, resting his chin on his hand.

"Ggio?" Soi Fon wondered, looking across at her companion who appeared to be falling asleep.

"Yes?" he answered with perfect clarity, opening his eyes and turn back to look at her with his unnervingly lucid amber stare.

"I thought you were falling asleep," she answered calmly, taking a sip of her coffee; she had to admit, whoever did their brewing knew the business. The coffee was good.

Ggio gave a short, light laugh and shook his head, his eyes falling to his food.

"No, sorry… I was just thinking," he told her, starting to pick apart his pastry with his pale fingers, pulling off a sliced almond and examining it before he put it aside to pluck off another. He began stacking the sliced nuts slowly, for seemingly no reason.

"Thinking…" Soi Fon mused, "I've been thinking lately too,"

"Oh? If you were anyone else I'd make some remark about not hurting yourself while trying to think, but…" he trailed off, a small smirk touching the corner of his mouth. He was unusually serious, she noticed, but maybe that was a good thing, considering what she was about to ask.

"Szayel told me you and Tesla were part of the Espada," she murmured. They were in a corner booth, away from the rest of the customers, but she took no chances, "Is this true?"

"Yes," he answered simply, his eyes flicking up to meet hers for a half a second, "It is."

"You didn't tell me," she pointed out. She wasn't angry, or hurt, that this had been kept from her, but there was _something_ there… _something_.

"I didn't think there was a need to," he told her, "It's not like it's something I'm proud of."

"And this Louisenbairn Baragan? What about him?"

"What about him?" Ggio returned sharply. He seemed to startle himself, and he looked her full in the face for the first time since their conversation had started, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bite your head off… can we talk about this later? I have a lot on my mind…"

"At least tell me a little bit," she pressed, refusing to be turned away.

"When I was on my own, the Espada picked me up," Ggio said, his voice taking an almost bitter edge that was dulled by the dreamy quality of his voice as he grew distracted by the rain again, "I had a propensity for swindling and pickpocketing, and was enough of an asshole to end up getting caught by one of their people; I was put together in a room with Tesla and Menoly. Menoly was never assigned anywhere, but Tesla was taken by Nnoitra and I was taken by Louisenbairn. I suppose you could say I was lucky. And there you have 'The Abriged Version of My Childhood After I Turned Thirteen'."

He fell silent, staring out through the glass again.

"I used to hate the rain," he said, a smile returning to brighten his face, "It was cold, and hard to get away from; When I was younger I used to think of it as the universe's way of pissing on me to top off my rotten luck."

He laughed a bit at this, and Soi Fon furrowed her eyebrows at the strange jump of topics.

"It's not so bad, the rain," he grinned, "It's fun to play in, but not as good as snow. I hated snow too…. I hated a lot of things, then."

He noticed her hard stare and flashed her a smile.

"If you really wanna know, I'll tell you," he said simply, "But not now. Later. And that's a promise,"

Soi Fon decided that she would have to be content with that and watched her own reflection on the surface of her espresso before taking a sip.

Across from her, Ggio was playing dominoes with the stacked nuts from his pastry.

…..

The following morning Ggio and Soi Fon found themselves walking down the damp sidewalk together, the smell of rain heavy in the air despite the fact that the clouds had exhausted themselves to a pearly, opaque white that covered the blue of the sky. Ggio had forgone his sling, claiming that as long as he didn't try to do anything crazy with his shoulder he'd be fine; apparently 'crazy' included trying to scratch his back.

Instead he was dressed in a white hooded jacket and jeans, while the woman at his side wore a black trench coat and boots, skirting even the smallest puddles with distaste.

"So where are we meeting this guy again?" she asked, distracting Ggio from his humming as he thumbed through the contacts in his phone, making adjustments here and there.

"What?" he asked, looking up from the screen, "Oh, just up at this park…"

She followed his indication and found herself looking at a grassy field planted with trees. Here and there were benches interspersed around walking paths; the park was very empty and the grass was more of a giant mud puddle thanks to the rain, making it impossible to miss the man they were approaching.

Pale as death with hair that was almost darker than black, his visage was so cold that it surpassed even Soi Fon's uncaring but somehow stern glare; an empty emerald stare glowed from beneath hooded lids as he watched their approach warily. The man was dressed business-casual, in black slacks and an untucked white oxford, seemingly unbothered by the stiff wind that tossed his straight black locks around his head in a spiked halo; he stood by a dripping stone bench in the shadow of a large oak with his hands in his pockets.

"Morning Batman," Ggio grinned when they were within earshot of the person in question. 'Batman' stared coldly at Ggio, his marble features not changing at all when his green gaze flicked to Soi Fon's face without showing even a jot of surprise.

"I believe I've asked you not to call me that," the man said, his tone quiet but strangely forceful, flat and soft, but dangerous none the less; he spoke in an icily formal way that somehow conveyed a very condescending attitude. He was a short man, only about Ggio's height, maybe an inch or two taller, but he seemed just as well muscled as Ggio himself.

"Sorry, sorry," her companion laughed, raising his hands to chest height in a motion of apologetic surrender, "It's been a while, Mr. Ulquiorra Schiffer,"

Ulquiorra remained silent, sending Ggio a look that clearly proclaimed how much he wished the length of time between their meeting had been prolonged. Soi Fon sighed, and figured that they had a very long road of negotiations ahead of them.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm sorry this is out so late, LITERALLY right at midnight, but I was out all day having fun~ **

** This chapter may be a bit boring, but it's kind of necessary, so I figured I'd throw it in. This is going on without any proofreading…. Sorry!**

Pecking Order

"You called me out here," Ulquiorra said emotionlessly, his hooded gaze locked on Ggio's face, "And you knew about the woman, so I expect this to be worth my time, Ggiovanni Vega."

"Ah, don't be so uptight Ulquiorra!" Ggio grinned, "Can't we make small talk for a bit and at least _pretend_ we get along?"

Ulquiorra didn't deign to answer, only narrowing his eyes minimally, obviously not wishing to engage in Ggio's 'small talk'. Soi Fon secretly agreed with this sentiment, wanting to be clear of the somehow hollow man as quickly as possible. He was almost like a porcelain doll, she thought to herself, pale and blank, but with nothing inside.

"So this girl of yours," Ggio's comment broke the silence like a stone through glass, "She pretty?"

"What business is that of yours?" Ulquiorra asked, his lips barely moving. He seemed extremely irritated by this question.

"Well she must be, to catch the eyes of the Espada's Bat," Soi Fon's companion chuckled, "She's the one who patched up Grimmjow with Szayel, isn't she? She some sort of nurse?"

"Yes," the other man replied tersely.

"What's her name?"

"Inoue," Ulquiorra murmured, his blank features picking up a tenuous amount of emotion when he said her name, "Orihime Inoue."

"'Cage Princess', huh?" Ggio wondered out loud, "What'd your higher-ups want with her?"

"Information,"

"Isn't that _your _job?" Ggio seemed genuinely surprised.

"I was in charge of keeping her while Zommari ran interrogations," Ulquiorra bit out, his annoyance finally surfacing, "You claimed you had work for me."

"Oh! Yeah, I do!" Ggio grinned, "You're so nice, paying your girlfriend's hospital bill, I'm deciding to contribute to the cause in exchange for some intell…"

"I'm only paying for her because the trash that is her brother can't pay on his own," Ulquiorra announced in his dead voice, "I hope you know that my service doesn't come cheap, even more so considering what Aizen would give to have your head on a platter."

"Aha, thanks for the reminder," Ggio laughed nervously, rubbing his neck in what seemed to be an unconscious motion, "But that aside, you don't even know what I'm asking for yet!"

The other man said nothing, only staring with his deadpan gaze.

"Okay, so here's the deal," Ggio sighed, "Soi Fon's friend got herself a jail cell; we want to get her out. I need to know when the security is lowest in the prison. I've given up sneaking in."

"What?" Soi Fon broke in to the conversation for the first time, causing two sets of eyes, one a warm, familiar ochre and the other an estranged shade of green, to focus on her, "What do expect to do? Go in, guns blazing?!"

"Not quite…" her companion corrected benignly, "More like… start a prison riot and run like hell?"

"You're an idiot," Soi Fon growled, crossing her arms, "How do you expect to handle that the way you are now? Your shoulder-"

"Alright, alright, shhhh!" Ggio shushed her hurriedly and then glanced at Ulquiorra, who gazed back steadily, "You have your secrets, I have mine,"

"I agree with your accompaniment," Ulquiorra said, "You're a fool if you think that will work."

"We'll see," Ggio grinned, looking more feline that ever, "I'm just paying you for the information."

"I'll charge you when I see how difficult it is to procure what you're asking for," the information specialist told him.

"It's true, you miss nothing that goes on, but um, about the money…" Ggio looked a bit uneasy, "Can I get it to you after we have Little Bee's friend? I'm a bit short on funds just now, and I can't go home to beg money off Tes…"

"I'll charge you," Ulquiorra repeated pointedly, "when I see how difficult it is to procure what you're asking for. I'll contact you when I've completed what you've asked…"

With that, he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and walked away without so much as a backwards glance.

"That… went surprisingly well," Ggio said in surprise.

"According to who?!" Soi Fon cried, "How the hell is starting a _prison riot_ going to help us?!"

"Um, you heard me, right?" he asked, glancing at her with a look shockingly reminiscent of Yoruichi, "We start a riot, find your friend, and run like we've got the fucking devil on our heels."

He turned away from her with a wide grin.

"Easy as falling off a log,"

….

"Explain this to me," Soi Fon said suddenly as the two walked back to Szayel's house, a cold, sharp wind biting at their faces, "That man Ulquiorra mentioned Aizen. He means _Sousuke_ Aizen, correct?"

"The very same," Ggio confirmed, his catlike gaze jumping subjects as they walked; one second he was eyeing a bakery window, the next watching a group of boys run down the sidewalk, lighting up as he spotted something interesting, dimming as it lost his attention. He was very like Yoruichi in the aspect, Soi Fon noticed. He missed nothing, saw everything, but cared about little.

"So your information broker works for the mayor?" she asked warily. If that were true, they were walking a fine line, collaborating right under the nose of the man who most likely wanted them in prison.

"Yes…" Ggio proposed reluctantly, "And no."

Soi Fon gave him a pointed look. He was always speaking either too plainly or all in riddles. The man seemed to have to middle ground. He turned to look at her, his clear gold eyes locking on her silvered brown for a moment before darting away again as they halted in front of the apartment building Szayel lived in. They walked through the lobby and stepped into the elevator, Ggio pressing the button and watching it light up.

"Our esteemed mayor," he began dramatically, as if extolling the values of some national hero, "The man who single-handedly crushed the unusually high crime rate in our beloved city! But there are two sides to every coin, of course."

They stepped out of the elevator and Ggio began fishing in his coat pocket for the room key as they went.

"Do I get an explanation?" Soi Fon prodded impatiently as they entered the apartment.

"Of course, just calm down woman," her companion snorted as he shrugged out of his jacket, revealing the tight gray turtleneck he had borrowed from Szayel and heading over to the kitchen, "Want something to drink? I was thinking of making coffee."

"Yes…. Thank you," she added the last part almost grudgingly, "Is this going to be another one of those, 'I'll tell you later' things?"

"No, I'm getting there! Jeez!" Ggio huffed, "I was going to say that our mayor isn't as great as everyone thinks. Crime hasn't gone down at all; if anything, the rates have risen. Crime hasn't disappeared, it's just been covered up, and what can't be covered up is destroyed."

"What does it matter about crime rates?!" Soi Fon cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "All I wanted to know was if Ulquiorra works for Aizen!"

"He does, but Ulquiorra doesn't work for Mayor Sousuke Aizen," Ggio sighed, setting the coffee pot on the heating space of the coffee maker and placing grounds in the chute at the top, "He works for Sousuke Aizen of the Espada."

"Wait…. What?"

"Let me explain this from the bottom up," Ggio murmured, searching the counter for a pencil as he tore a paper off a notepad that hung on the refrigerator. He sat at the table, and she followed, watching as he drew a chart.

"The Espada works like this. At the grunt level are those who are simply called Nùmeros, the most base of all of the people in the organization. They do things like steal from drugstores, spy on the average citizens, or purposely instigate gang fights to give the Espada an excuse to crush smaller groups. They could be any Joe Shmoe on the street and you would never know."

The chart he was drawing began to take the shape of a pyramid, and at the very bottom on the widest tier he wrote NÙMEROS.

"Above the Nùmeros are the Fracciòn, or people who have worked their way high enough away from the entry level that they catch the attention of the higher-ups. They get picked up by one of the ten division heads and begin training to take over that particular division, or like in my case if they're too stupid for that kind of thing, they get used as body guards."

He smiled at her, but she didn't return the gesture.

"The people who 'adopt' Fracciones are the Espada themselves; there are ten of them, divided into two separate core systems, each a division head. These ten are something like Aizen's council. They are Coyote Stark who heads smuggling, Luiesenbairn Baraggan who's in charge of drug distribution, Tia Harribel who keeps track of the prostitution business, our very own Ulquiorra Schiffer who deals in information, Nnoitra Gilga who works as a hitman, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques who punishes those who break the rules within the organization, Zommari Leroux who does interrogations, Szayel, of course, who is the Espada's personal medic, Aaroniero Arruruerie who heads up investigations, and last and probably least despite all the faults of the others, Yammy Llargo. I'm not quite sure what he does… he's hella strong, but pretty dull."

Ggio now divided that tier into ten sections. On top of that he drew two boxes, filling in one as JUSTICE and the other as DESTRUCTION.

"This one," he pointed at JUSTICE, "is headed up by Kaname Tousen. He heads over Tia, Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Yammy, and Szayel, keeping the structure in the organization rigid, and the people in it loyal to Aizen. The _other_ one is held by Ichimaru Gin, who presides over Stark, Baraggan, Ulquiorra, Zommari, and Aaroniero on the more intellectual side of things. The man's as crafty as a fox."

He made a small box over all the rest.

"Those two are the closest friends of Sousuke Aizen, our 'mayor'." He finished gravely.

"Okay, so the organization is bigger than I thought," Soi Fon said, narrowing her eyes at the paper before looking back at Ggio, "So what does that have to do with crimes rates?"

"Don't you get it?" Ggio asked incredulously, "Crimes are being covered up because our city leader is a crime lord. This whole city is run by the mafia."

"Oh," was all Soi Fon could say, at a bit of a loss. She had realized this when he had drawn the chart, but she hadn't really registered the implications, which were now slapping her in the face.

"Yeah. Oh," Ggio repeated, handing her a mug of coffee before smiling, "But that's what happens when you walk to the beat of your own drum…."

"This is just like high school. But bigger. And with guns," he grinned. Strangely, and perhaps due to the warm drink in front of her, she found his smile slightly comforting.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Ooookay, so this chapter is really just an introduction to the next one, because I couldn't fit everything in to one chapter without having it be confusing. So, I hope you can all put up with me for one more week… drop me a review and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!**

Reminisce 

The smell of antiseptic stung his nose as he walked through the glass sliding doors of the hospital he had grown so accustomed to visiting over the last few weeks, his heavily hooded gaze sweeping over the stark white of the décor without interest, picking up the smallest detail. The man in the hall was walking with a new cane. The nurse running the desk had a coffee stain on the hem of her scrubs. There was a black smear on the pale tile, probably from someone's dirty shoes as they hurried to see a loved one. The screw that he'd noticed to be loose in the entrance sign last week had been tightened. Someone had fixed the blinds in the lobby window.

"G-good morning Mr. Schiffer!" a short male nurse by the name of Hanataro called as he made his way to the elevator to go to _her_ room, his hands in his pockets. He turned to send the young intern an acknowledging glance, and the nurse swallowed hard with what seemed to be his typical nervous fear, "U-uh, I'll be going with you t-to Ms. Inoue's room…"

Ulquiorra held the elevator door and allowed the man, who was a whole half-foot shorter than his own short stature, to enter. The intern wrung the hem of his pale blue scrubs in his hands, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor as Ulquiorra stared blankly at the elevator doors, the machine raising them to the eighth floor, the recovery ward.

"She's d-doing better," Hanataro announced, his nerves cracking his voice; he was absolutely terrified of the man who came to visit his coworker. Orihime herself was a lovely person, but the man she had chosen to be with was… less than friendly, "She'll probably be able to go home soon…?"

"Hm," Ulquiorra made a sound of reply only to let the other man know that he had heard. He really didn't want to start a conversation, leastways with the mouse-like mess of anxiety that stood, trembling, to his right.

"And she has some… some visitors right now," the man continued. The real reason Hanataro had come up with him, Ulquiorra thought; the intern wanted to make sure Ulquiorra didn't start a fight with the other man who was likely in the woman's room.

The elevator doors opened, and the Espada's Bat stepped out, striding down the hall and almost leaving the short young man who had accompanied him behind. He reached the woman's room and, without qualms, opened the door.

"Mr. Schiffer, I don't think-!" Hanataro began, only to stop as he caught sight of Ulquiorra's face. The pale man had his eyes locked, not on the pretty-but-damaged woman in the hospital bed, but on the man who sat at her side. His shock of wild orange hair was an offense to humanity, not at all like the woman's shining, fiery auburn locks. His eyes were a dull brown, nothing like the sky blue that reflected in _her_ eyes. His features were stern where hers were joyous, his jaw squared where hers was delicate, his face set in a scowl even as hers lit up in a bright smile.

And of course, the woman's companion, another female with short black hair and a fierce, almost motherly protective desire was there as well, but she was less troublesome than her hot headed accompaniment.

"Ulquiorra!" the woman squealed, and he felt the corner of his mouth twitch upward in an expression of whatever he felt that was akin to happiness, and expression that only she would be able to notice. He took as step forward in to the room, and the other man stood from the metal chair he had occupied. Ulquiorra ignored him.

"Woman," he greeted, his tones muted as Hanataro skittered into the room, a safe distance away from the pale man.

"I didn't think you'd come today!" the young woman cried happily, "Because you said someone called you for work that might take a while, so I thought you might not have time-"

"I made time," Ulquiorra answered, pulling up a chair at Orihime's bedside and sitting down, "So I came."

"Morning Schiffer," the dark haired woman across from him greeted, looking at him from where her head lay on the edge of the mattress.

Ulquiorra gazed at her for a moment, but turned away without saying anything. There was nothing to say.

"Tch," the red headed man beside Tatsuki snorted, "Too damn arrogant to even return a greeting."

Ulquiorra looked up slowly and stared passionlessly at the red haired hot head.

"Don't be mean to him, Kurosaki!" Orihime pouted.

Ulquiorra desperately wanted to say something along the lines of, _I have no need to speak to trash_, but he had the feeling that doing so would upset the woman.

"We should go, Ichigo," Tatsuki said firmly, grabbing the boy's upper arm and dragging him away, "Before you two wreck the hospital room."

Despite Ichigo's protests, the martial girl pulled him down the hall and the pair disappeared. Ulquiorra blinked slowly at the now empty hallway, turning back around to face Orihime. Hanataro could be heard in the background, lecturing another patient by the name of Ukitake about getting too worked up, but the sound was faint and eventually faded.

"I'm glad you came to see me," Orihime smiled sweetly, "It makes me happy. I'm trying really hard to get my strength back so that they'll let me out of here! Then you won't have to work so hard."

"Don't worry about it," Ulquiorra murmured, laying his hand palm up on the mattress. The woman responded by placing her hand in his, her skin so warm and vital against his cold, death-pale flesh.

"I _do _worry about it," she protested, "Even _you'll_ get tired if you keep working for both me _and… _and Aizen."

Her voice died toward the end of her sentence, but she steeled herself and said the name of the man who had tormented her for so long.

"Um… how is Mr. Grimmjow's arm?" she asked after a quiet moment. Ulquiorra thought for a moment.

"Fine," he said shortly, thinking about the stupid firebrand that was unfortunately his coworker.

"That's good! Mr. Szayel said that he would probably lose that arm…" she furrowed her eyebrows in an unwonted look of concentration, "But… did you find anything out? About what Aizen wanted from me?"

"Why he wanted the information on toxins you mean," Ulquiorra phrased this not as a question, but as a statement. He knew exactly what she meant. And he had found things, yes… but not anything he could tell her without putting her in more danger than she was already in, knowing about the inner workings of the Espada as she did. But she was Ulquiorra's, she belonged to _him_, and no one but Aizen himself could touch her at this point.

_Let him try_, the Bat thought to himself.

"No," the green eyed man lied, "I haven't found anything yet."

"Oh…" the red headed woman sighed, "Well I suppose even you have your limits when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Mm."

Everything he had heard raced through his head as the two sat in companionable silence. The jewels, buyers in the East, the South American drug cartel, poisoned air and water, the millions of dollars, hours, people that could disappear in the blink of an eye, and all of it, _all of it_ centered around one man.

Aizen Sousuke.

…..

Ggio lounged in Szayel's living room, his gaze set on the ceiling, thinking, just thinking…. It was a special day. He had missed it last year, and the year before that, and the year before that…. He had missed it for eleven, almost twelve years in a row.

His mother's birthday.

Well, he supposed it didn't really matter to _her_… she was nothing more than bone dust moldering in a hole that happened to be under a grave marker on a very expensive plot of land. It mattered to him though. He still missed her.

He laughed to himself. He was pathetic, just _pathetic_, pining after a long dead prostitute who had left him with the most spiteful, worthless man on the face of the planet. But when she had been alive, she was the best mother he could have had. It wasn't _her_ fault how things had turned out… he had loved her, his mother.

But when she had died, he had been left to his _father_. His _father_ who never wanted Ggio and hated the boy all the more for looking like a small carbon copy of the woman he had fallen in love with but could never have because of who she was, because of her status as a 'lower class' woman. His _father_ who had married an 'upper class' bitch who wanted nothing more than to see Ggio suffer. His _father_ who, in exchange for money and for the promise of marriage from that woman, had thrown his son out on the street where he had come from when he was no more than thirteen.

Ggio curled his lip, thinking…

That woman, Talia Madrid, was spiteful, shameless, malicious… she had wanted any trace of his father's past life gone, and Miguel Vega was all too willing to get rid of the stain on his reputation, the bastard child who looked so like his late lover… the same woman who was buried peacefully in his own personal graveyard. Miguel Vega had made sure that the woman he had loved had been moved on to his own property in death, but still refused to care for her son.

Ggio could almost _hear_ the man now, his voice echoing in the still air.

_ "Ggiovanni!" the voice of punishment, the voice of wrath, the voice of pain rang through the halls of the house, and a small boy ducked behind a curtain to try and hide, "Ggiovanni you stupid little shit! Come here you dumb brat!"_

_ Ggio covered his mouth and nose with one hand, trying to muffle his breathing. He _wouldn't___go out, he _wouldn't_, because if he _did_, that man would probably lock him in the closet like he always did when Ggio got in trouble, he would lock him in the closet without any lights, and it would be dark, dark, dark…._

_ Ggio shrank against the wall, scared._

_He didn't like the dark. He liked the sunshine, the light that was a pretty gold color like his mother's eyes had been-_

_ "GIOVANNI!" the voice was closer now, and Ggio crouched, trying to be as small as possible against the wall behind the curtain. He hadn't _really_ meant to do something bad, hadn't _really _meant to, but the other boy had made him so _mad_! He had _told _the other kid he wasn't a shrimp and that his mother wasn't a 'whore' (he didn't know what it meant, but it wasn't anything nice, he could tell by the way they said it), but the boy and his friends wouldn't leave him alone! So he had bitten the other kid until he bled. The other children had called him rabid, but who cared?_

_ It had felt good to vent on those boys. He couldn't do anything to help himself at home, and out there everyone hated him, but-_

_ The curtain was torn aside and Ggio found himself being picked up and shaken by the scruff of his neck like a kitten in the jaws of an angry pit-bull. _

_ "You idiotic runt! Why do I put up with you?! You cause nothing but trouble! Do you know what they're saying about me out in the business world because of you?! Of course you don't because you're nothing but a stupid _kid_!"_

_ The man threw Ggio down the hall and the boy tumbled to a halt only when he had hit the wall. Black spots bloomed before his eyes as his head collided with the wall… his wanted to cry, wanted his mother to hold him, but it was too late for that. He wouldn't cry here. Not where _that_ man could see him… the black patches continued to spread like ink on water, blotting out his vision, and his thoughts began to break apart, drifting away from each other like shattered ice on the sea-_

Ggio snapped out of his thoughts as Soi Fon walked in to the room, her nose in a book. He hoped she hadn't noticed anything strange about him. It was better if she hadn't… Ggio put up his usual, grinning mask and assumed a bored appearance, stretching in his chair.

He told himself that he hoped she hadn't noticed… but it was a lie. He wanted her to know. He wanted to share a part of himself with her. But he couldn't. She wouldn't have it.

Too bad. 


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Done at last! Alright everyone, this is probably NOT the best chapter I've ever done… it's long, but it was kind of rushed, so I apologize for this disaster :l**

**Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think, alright?**

Mental Games

"I'm bored," Ggio complained, staring at Soi Fon from where he sat, head down, in the armchair across from the couch. His bare feet dangled in open air, his knees hooked over the back of the chair, his body slumped in the seat, and his head just above the ground. His black braid was coiled almost like a length of rope, his gold eyes glinting as looked at her.

Soi Fon glanced up from the book she was reading while curled up on the couch, her feet tucked beneath her. The title of the book was _Triple_ _Threat_, a mystery murder novel that centered around three single women; it wasn't bad writing, but she didn't find it all that interesting. It was too close to her real life to really intrigue her.

"What do you want me to do about it?" she asked him before going back to her book, turning the page. She watched out of her periphery as Ggio twisted in his seat, careful not to move his injured shoulder too much. When Szayel had last checked the man's shoulder he had said something about a 'bony callus' forming; apparently that was a good sign, only one step away from healing in the bone itself, but the crater in Ggio's flesh would still take a while to fix itself.

He was now on his stomach, one arm stretched out superman style, a black rubber band around his wrist, while he scratched the back of his head lazily with the other hand.

"I dunno…" he yawned, "Szayel's not home, so I can't go bug him."

The man twitched in surprise as his phone began vibrating in his pocket, buzzing against the seat of the chair.

"Hoooly shit that scared me," he breathed, pushing himself up to sit normally again, fishing in the pocket of his sweatpants until he came up with the object in question. He checked the screen and promptly hit 'ignore', stuffing it back in his pocket.

"Who was that?" Soi Fon asked disinterestedly, flipping another page in her book.

"Just Tesla," Ggio sighed, stretching in a catlike motion.

"And you didn't pick up?"

"Hell no!" Ggio cried, "What do you think I am woman, suicidal? Do you have any idea what I would hear from that guy?" the black haired man pitched his voice in a slightly higher, slightly hysterical tone, "_What the hell is wrong with you? You never called back- why didn't you just come home? You got hurt?!Ggio, one of these times you're going to die if you're not careful! And what about the bill for that?! Haven't I told you-_ etcetera."

"Sounds like he's just worries about you," Soi Fon replied, tone still detached as she read a paragraph about the three main characters in a bar. Apparently one of the characters had found a significant other despite her previous protests and claims that all men were scumbags.

"Guy worries about _everything_, little bee," Ggio snorted, "I might consider him family, but he's not my _mother_."

Soi Fon didn't answer, refusing to respond to his pet name for her. She didn't mind it so much when he called her 'love' or 'sweetheart' or something along those lines, because it seemed that he called most females something like that, but that name that was particular to her…. No. Just no.

"Hey Soi Fon," Ggio murmured, a glazed look on his face and a vague tint in his eyes told her that even though he was looking at her he was seeing something different, probably immersed in memories, "What were your parents like?"

"My father was an abusive, drunken asshole, and my mother was a cowardly whore," Soi Fon told him easily enough. It didn't bother her to insult her parents; what she said was true.

"Mmm…" a light smirk touched Ggio's face, hardly more than a twitching at the corners of his mouth, still lost deep in thought, "Coward… yeah, that's a good description…. It fits."

"What?"

"I'll be right back," he said suddenly, jumping off his chair and walking into the hall while digging for his phone.

After a minute or so he came back, flipping his phone closed. He sat down again, but this time on the floor, directly in front of Soi Fon. He didn't say anything, only stared up at her until she lowered her book from its position in front of her face and looked at him over the top of the pages.

"_What_?"

"Will you go somewhere with me?" he asked, looking surprisingly childish, with his legs folded Indian-style on the tile.

"Why?"

"Moral support," he said simply, still gazing at her with clear, pleading ochre eyes.

"Where are we going?" she queried; she didn't want to get mixed up in something of his without knowing exactly what was up. For all she knew she might agree to go somewhere and leave regretting not having a living will.

"I…. I want…" Ggio looked down at his feet, "I want to go home."

That one action, that motion of drawing his gaze away when he didn't want people to see the emotion in his eyes, reminded her so strongly of Yoruichi.

_Damn it Ggio_, she thought fiercely, _I don't want this._

She ended up going anyway.

….

"Thanks for coming with me," Ggio grinned cheerfully as he walked down the pavement with her after walking a ways from the bus stop that they had gotten off at. They had since entered in to the very richest neighborhoods in the metropolis, "I was afraid you'd say no."

"I wanted to," she huffed; if he was going to have a chat with his parents, she didn't really want to be there. Things could get ugly pretty quickly, particularly because of what little she'd heard from Ggio. She didn't know much, but thirteen year olds who still had living relatives didn't often operate on their own out of the gutters, and they _certainly_ didn't get picked up by the mafia if they had a respectable family.

"Well you didn't, and you're here now," he smiled, "That's all that matters to me. You can be mad later, if you want."

Soi Fon merely sighed, quickening her pace to keep up with her taller companion. She felt like a pauper amongst all the large, spotless houses they were surrounded by. The atmosphere was nothing like the shabby but well-loved bar Ggio and Tesla had, nor like the small, cozy apartment she kept with Yoruichi. The air was stale, oppressive, unnerving in its perfection.

No, people like she and Ggio didn't belong in that place, not in the slightest. She wasn't an advocate of street-filth, but walking on pristine walkways gave the impression that they were the only ones alive in a world void of other inhabitants. She didn't like it.

"Cirucci used to live there," Ggio commented as they walked past a huge home, the stucco walls carrying a pink tint, "I doubt she still does though. My old man's the oldest home-owner here, so the neighbors have all changed since I last cared to stroll through here. I called earlier to make sure they still lived here, as to avoid bothering random citizens, ya know?"

"So your parents know you're coming?" Soi Fon asked.

"Nope," the black haired man laughed, "I called the home-owner's association instead."

"Are you an idiot?" the woman bit at him, "If you show up uninvited, you're bound to get a bad reaction!"

"Ehhh, well," Ggio flapped a hand unconcernedly at her, "It's not like I'll be greeted with a smile anyway; I don't see the big deal."

"You…" she stopped and sighed, "Whatever."

"We're here~!" He announced, a somehow forced smile still lingering on his lips as he stood before the building. It was huge, made of brick in an old Victorian style, with a black iron gate fencing the yard. The two of them waltzed through the bars, and Soi Fon felt like she was entering a cage.

She sincerely hoped Ggio wasn't one of the 'poor little rich boys' who had run away from home claiming to feel stifled, or some crap like that.

The man knocked on the green-painted door, waiting. The look on his face was cast in shadow, and not just from the porch that hung over head; The door swung open over the threshold and revealed an older woman.

"Hello," Ggio grinned charmingly, the dark, brooding pall that had hung over him disappearing like fog in the glaring sun, "Long time no see Ms. Kirio! How's Hiyori?"

"I don't know you," the woman said sternly, glaring over the rims of her silver-wire glasses.

"Oh come on now, really? I know I haven't gotten a haircut, and I've grown about three feet since you last saw me, but really?" Ggio chuckled, and realization dawned in the woman's eyes.

"Ggiovanni?" she gaped, brushing a stray lock of silver hair away from her face as it fell from her severe bun.

"The one and only," he winked at the woman.

"It's been so long! But… what are you doing here?"

"I… uh…" Ggio suddenly turned and grabbed Soi Fon's hand, pulling her forward, "I wanted to get my old man's blessing for marriage."

Soi Fon stopped listening to the conversation being held at that point, only focusing on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. Ggio was going to get it. He was going to wish he had never been born, let alone having gotten the urge to visit home.

"Of course, come in, although I'm not sure how well you'll be received by the master," the woman sighed.

"Yeah, well, as well as a bastard child like me can, I guess," Ggio answered, still holding Soi Fon's hand tightly. They were let in and Ms. Kirio, as she had been called, lead the way through a maze of hallways.

"_Blessing for marriage?_" Soi Fon hissed at Ggio, snatching her hand back as she noticed the prolonged contact.

"_Shut up it was all I could think of!_" Ggio whispered back, looking both apologetic and annoyed. The pair wound through the house, crossing out of the entryway, floored with wood and walled with pale wallpaper, and into a large dining room equipped with a china cabinet and a chandelier. They climbed a flight of sweeping stairs and went down a second hallway, this one carpeted in faded, but somehow rich, red.

The two suddenly found themselves staring at an oaken door, side by side before Ggio threw it open and stepped inside. The interior was a large library, complete with armchairs and side tables, portraits hanging on the only available walls space. It should have felt cozy and welcoming, but the atmosphere was cold; row after row of books sat, clean, but untouched and unloved.

A man stood with his back to the doorway, conversing in low tones with a woman.

The man was the complete opposite of Ggio; where Ggio was short, he was tall. Where Ggio's features were thin, energetic, and feline, this man was heavy, doleful, deliberate, and dog-like. Where Ggio had a sharp but playful air about him, this man was nothing but business. The only similarity between the two was their hair color and skin tone.

The woman at the man's side was, if possible, even less similar to Ggio. She was pretty, but unremarkable; not thin or heavy-set, not stunningly gorgeous or overly plain, not strikingly tall or terribly short, she was simply average in all aspects. Her blonde hair was cropped short and she had a terribly cruel mannerism.

"Kirio, who are these people, we were not expecting _company_," the man asked, his voice gratingly harsh as he narrowed his eyes at the old woman, "I hope you're not trying to sell us something," he snapped, his words now directed at Ggio.

"Ahhh, look that this," Ggio sighed, extending a hand to indicate the man before them as he looked at Soi Fon, "After we took the trouble of using the front door and everything, eh little bee?"

"You dare be so rude as to ignore the master of the house in which you stand, uninvited?" the blonde woman gritted at Ggio.

Ggio shook his head slowly, as if unable to believe the people in front of him. He was smiling slightly, but Soi Fon could see the hurt and anger embedded deep in his gaze. Kirio chose this moment to slip, unnoticed, from the room. She knew that the excuse of getting a blessing for marriage was a lie; how could it be anything else? She'd known Ggio since he was a child. A wild thing he had been, prone to asking forgiveness rather than permission. She glided away down the hall, out of earshot of the conversation.

"Well?" the man in the study barked at Ggio, irritation painting his features a dull red, "If you have no business with us then you might as well get out, you two are filthy and ill-dressed."

Soi Fon's feline companion snorted with something that was less than amusement before tossing something at the man. It was a small box, wrapped in blue paper with a small bow along the top. Soi Fon recognized it as the miniscule package that Ggio had wrapped on the kitchen table right before they had left. She had wondered what it had been for, but she hadn't asked; she could hardly believe that it was to be given to the jerk in front of them.

"What," the receiver asked, "Is this?"

"It's for her," Ggio replied, his smirk dying as he spoke, "Cenobia, I mean."

"Is this some kind of joke?" the blond woman bit out, "That whore has been dead for years!"

"Why would someone be giving her a gift anyway?" the man growled, "There's no occasion to merit this."

"So you forgot," Ggio muttered, his eyes harsh and his tone cold, "You old fool, you forgot. Or maybe you didn't know, since you left her behind after finding out hardly anything beyond her name."

"And what would you know, boy?" the other snarled, "You walk in here without so much as a formal greeting or an introduction, flaunt yourselves in my house, and begin insulting me! You know _nothing_ of this family, now remove yourself!"

"Oh come on, I know it's been almost twelve years, but seriously? You really are an old fool," Ggio gave a somewhat bitter laugh, "What else could I expect, from a man who traded his only son for a stuck-up bitch?"

"_What_ did you call me?!" the woman shrilled; Soi Fon had decidedly strong feelings against this person, if only for her excessively high-pitched and high-volume vocals.

The man narrowed his eyes and glared sharply at Ggio before the younger Vega folded his arms over his chest and raised his chin defiantly; the elder of the two examined Soi Fon's accompaniment before he turned his gaze to one of the portraits on the wall, one of a woman with remarkable golden eyes and a very streamline visage, almost like a cat.

"Then you're Ggiovanni," the man, Vega Senior, said heavily as he turned back to his son. The woman was still fuming behind him, her pale dress stretching as she breathed deeply with rage, "I didn't think you'd show up again."

"I didn't think so either," Ggio returned brusquely, "But I figured I'd pay a visit to my _dear_ father and show him just exactly where I ended up."

The woman at Ggio's father's side, who Soi Fon had known couldn't possibly be Ggio's mother, gave the pair of them a once over and snorted derisively. Soi Fon narrowed her eyes in a glare at the woman as she continued to find amusement in their clothing.

"_I_ can see exactly where you ended up, you useless brat! Generic brand coats, ripped and patchy jeans, scuffed shoes that show that you do a lot of walking, and it seems that neither of you can afford haircuts! And who is _she _anyway? You call _me _a stuck-up bitch, but that look in her eyes tells _me_-"

Soi Fon opened her mouth to rail against this petty, shallow blonde that stood before her with her obviously dyed hair that was gray at the roots, fake nails and pretty clothes, but her companion beat her to the punch.

"I never said I got myself anywhere good," Ggio's voice was ice-cold as he said this, "And you'd better not say anything about Soi Fon. Say whatever you want about me, I don't give a shit about that, but you'd better not say anything against her."

Ggio's father snapped at his son, sounding angry, "It's obvious to me that you haven't gotten yourself anywhere since I turned you out! Your exactly as you were before, a disrespectful, dirty street urchin that brings shame to this family!"

"I've gotten places alright," Ggio answered, voice still frigid, "I at least found people who appreciate my existence and who don't throw me away like yesterday's newspaper, old man."

"Like who, you're little whore there? She probably can't stand on her own two feet and clings to you like a-" the woman started up again from beside her husband. Soi Fon blinked in surprise as Ggio curled his lip at the blonde.

"Oh shut up," Ggio commanded lazily as he removed his usual black Smith & Wesson 9mm from where it had been tucked in to his waistband in case of emergency, "I didn't come to talk to you, and I won't say I don't have a reason to kill you."

"You wouldn't," she sneered, "You're nothing but a coward."

"I've killed better people than you, Talia," Ggio said, not bothering to look at her as he shifted the gun in his hand. He kept his gaze trained on his father, the two glaring daggers at one another.

"I'm not the same," Ggio commented lowly, "I'm not the same little kid you'd beat for being home a few minutes late or lock in a closet for days on end. I'm done taking crap from you and your stupid bitch, so you had better keep an eye on her."

Vega senior sent a sharp glance toward his wife, a look that clearly commanded silence from her.

"If you do anything you'll be arrested," the man warned sullenly, "You wouldn't want that on your record, would you?"

"Oh save it, it's not like it hasn't happened before," Ggio returned, "That sort of thing isn't even something to be thought about when you work in the Espada."

"The Espada?" The other man paled considerably, "You work for the mafia?"

"I did," Ggio corrected, "Ever since I started living on my own."

"You… you…" Vega senior spluttered, looking for something to say, "You're out of your mind if you think I won't call the police just because I'm your father!"

Ggio narrowed his eyes at the man, his glare menacing.

"Ha!" the woman crowed despite Ggio's warning, "You heard him, you delinquents! You and your whore had better get out while you have the chance! I'd like nothing better than to see misfits like you off the streets and in a cell! I bet you can't even hold a proper job!"

"Oh?" Ggio murmured, "I believe I asked you to be quiet. And you insulted Soi Fon again. Three strikes and you're out, Talia."

Soi Fon caught the look in his eyes. It was a dangerous, mischievous glint that she often caught from Yoruichi when the woman had less-than-good intentions, so she wasn't surprised when the gun went off, it's roar filling the room.

The blonde screamed and flinched, the man bellowed, and Ggio laughed as a bullet cracked through the wallpapered expanse to the woman's right.

"Miguel!" The blonde sobbed, almost collapsing in fear and staggering toward her husband. He caught her arm and prepared to yell something at Ggio's retreating back. Soi Fon prepared to follow her reckless companion, but stopped as he halted in the doorway and turned to face his father.

"Tell Mama I said happy birthday," the young man said quietly, the anger and hatred dying out of his eyes leaving behind a sad, almost lost look, "Put that on her grave for me,"

With that, he exited the room, Soi Fon in his wake.

…..

"My mom was a prostitute," Ggio began without prompting as they began their walk back to where they could catch a bus back home, "She was a woman from Spain, a good woman, beautiful and strong, but pig-headed. When she couldn't get a job, she had to make things work. I didn't understand what her job was then, but she put me through some schooling and got food on the table. I really loved her; I always told myself I didn't need to know who my father was as long as I had my mom. She died when I was eight."

Soi Fon listened silently. There wasn't much to say. She felt only the barest twinge of pity for Ggio; he wasn't the first to lose his only parent, and he wouldn't be the last. There were plenty of orphans in the world.

"After she died, I was taken to meet the man my mother, Cenobia Ortiz, had claimed to be my father. The man we just met, Miguel Vega, had a bit of a fling with her years ago and left her with me. When she died, the Vega family was the only available option as a place for her to send me. The rest of her family was overseas in Spain, and they had decided to disown her anyway.

When I lived there, in the Vega house, I was left alone most of the time, and Kirio was in charge of my care. Having grown up in the city streets, where I was allowed to do what I wanted, I wasn't accustomed to strict private school regulations, social prejudices, or rules at home. When I did something wrong, my father would lock me in a dark room for hours. I think that's where my claustrophobia may have come from."

He smiled at her to imply that the last part was a joke, and she simply stared at him until he moved his gaze back to the pavement to continue his story.

"Well anyway, when I wasn't around people would call me things like the Vega Plague, or Bastard of the Vega House; since I wasn't born from someone of their own status, apparently I was less than human to them. They smiled to my face, but people like that, who think their shit smells like roses, are prone to that type of thing. I put a stain on my father's name, and he hated me for it, but he couldn't get rid of me without making himself look worse. When he met Talia, it just gave him a reason to throw me out. She _hated_ me, and the only way she would stay with him was if he pretended I didn't exist. He gave me two rooms in the house, and the only meals I got were the school lunches. It went on like that for a while.

Finally, I'd taken five years of neglect, and I was ready to snap. I got in fights at school, and once, I threw a chair at a teacher. They wanted to get me evaluated, but my father had a better solution. With Talia backing him and saying I was 'an uncontrollable heathen,' he threw me out. Not a word of apology, not a suitcase to give me, not even five dollars to get a bus back to the inner city. All he said was, 'You were an accident, brat. You're nothing but an annoyance here, so go make your own way.' I asked him if Talia was more important than I was and he answered with a completely straight face, 'of course.' And, well, you know the rest. Today was my mother's birthday, and I wanted to leave her something. It's a Spanish custom to leave things at grave sites on Dia de los Muertos- the Day of the Dead- but I missed it."

"I see," Soi Fon responded simply. She wasn't quite sure why, but she didn't like the look on Ggio's face; it was a sad, crushed look that made her angry- not with him, but with whoever had caused it. She felt the sudden urge to run back to the Vega household and really put a bullet in the son of a bitch who was Ggio's father.

Instead, she settled for cursing the man in the silence of her own head before she noticed that Ggio's head had snapped up from where he had been examining the pavement and he had stopped in his tracks. She was instantly on the alert, thinking that he had noticed something- an enemy, perhaps.

After a moment of standing on the sidewalk against the flow of people, she followed his line of sight and found him staring at a flashy building labeled _Karakura Arcade_.

"Seriously?" She asked incredulously, looking at him as he stared back. After a moment of his pleading gaze, she sighed, and handed him a quarter, thinking he might cheer up a bit.

He looked at the coin in his hand and then back at her before grinning like a naughty child, grabbing her hand and pulling her with him. Her plan was working a bit too well it seemed.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She cried, "What are you, four?!"

"Twenty-four, darling!" he answered laughingly as he exchanged a ten dollar bill for tokens at the entrance to the arcade, "but not any less of a child for that!"

"I refuse!" Soi Fon shouted as he tugged on her hand to go play games, "You can make a fool of yourself, but I'll stay here, thank you!"

"Don't be so uptight," he told her teasingly, "it's good to have fun every once in a while. Come on, race me!"

He lead her to a motorcycle racing game, the kind where you got on to the plastic vehicle and drove like you would in real life. Ggio inserted a few gold tokens, and hoped onto the red patterned cycle.

"What is the point to this?" Soi Fon asked as the split screen announced that the race was starting, "You _own _a motorcycle!"

"Because!" Ggio yelled over the noise of the arcade, "In real life I can't do this!"

Soi Fon hissed angrily as Ggio purposely rammed his bike in to hers, causing her character to spiral off a cliff.

"I'm going to kick your ass!" She shouted back, her competitive streak raging to life as her avatar re-spawned.

The two of them ran around the arcade like children, even Soi Fon forgetting her troubles for a bit as she challenged Ggio to a DDR tournament, drawing a crowd, or shooting hoops, or trying to get the jackpot on the Wack-A-Mole game and accidently hitting her companion in the face with the plush hammer.

Almost two hours later, the two of them stumbled out of the building, Soi Fon clutching a stuffed tiger she and Ggio had compiled their tickets to buy, both of them a bit disheveled and out of breath. Ggio grinned at her, beaming with excitement.

"That was great!" he laughed, "I haven't had that kind of fun in ages!"

"It wasn't bad," Soi Fon answered, trying to compose herself. She'd had a good time trying to stomp Ggio into the ground in virtual gaming, which surprised her. The two began to walk again, heading to the bus stop that they should have arrived at hours ago.

"It was fun," Ggio repeated, more softly, more solemnly; he turned to Soi Fon as she tried to decide what to do with the plush white tiger, "Thanks Soi Fon."

"For what?"

"You know for what. Coming along, putting up with me, cheering me up, everything. Thank you."

"D-don't be stupid," Soi Fon stammered, "I only came because you asked."

"I know," Ggio smiled again, "That's why."

Soi Fon stayed quite throughout their bus ride, stroking the tiger's fur and trying to forget the happy look that he been in Ggio's eyes. She'd only gone because he'd asked! She was only still around because she needed him to get Yoruichi! And she'd cheered him up because she… because…

Because…

Her thoughts went around in circles as she tried to find an excuse for the last of the three, an excuse for the relief she had felt when his smile came back.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving this year! Well, things finally start to get somewhere in the story starting this chapter! Drop a review and let me know what you think; thanks for reading everyone!**

Rerun

Soi Fon wandered in to the kitchen in the pair of boxers and the tank top she had used as pajamas since her arrival at Szayel's house, the stuffed tiger from the arcade wrapped tightly in her arms as she rubbed a hand across her eyes drowsily. She thought, with some annoyance how often she had been torn from her normal supply of clothing. The first time when she moved in to the flat above the bar, and now, while Ggio recovered. It was bothersome.

She heard the distinctly patterned lilt of her partner's tones drifting through the kitchen door, but heard no reply in return.

_Maybe he's on the phone_, she thought sleepily, placing her hand on the doorknob and twisting. She pushed the door open and heard Ggio's next words more clearly.

"Of course I know that! It's just…" he sighed in exasperation before his voice softened, "I know. Yeah. Listen, I think you should go home. For him at least, to let him know you're okay. Oh- oh, you tell me not to worry him, but you won't even-! You're gonna give him ulcers. You really are."

Soi Fon continued to listen, confused, until Ggio smiled at her from where he sat on the counter, motioning her in.

"Yeah, sorry. Listen, I'll come see you when I wrap things up over here. I've got a meeting planned for today, so I'll call you later. Yeah. Yeah, love you too. Now _go home_!" Ggio cried insistently into the receiver before he heard a click and the phone went dead. He pouted and hung it up, looking back at Soi Fon as she stared questioningly at him, "Menoly," he replied to her unanswered question.

Soi Fon swallowed the surprisingly sharp irritation she felt upon hearing Ggio tell someone he loved them; it was too early in the morning to get worked up. She wasn't even sure why she _cared_… it was a free country, after all.

"Meeting?" she yawned despite herself, not missing how Ggio's eyes trailed the outline of her bare legs for the merest instant.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," he answered after a moment, "Ulquiorra called earlier this morning. He would have been here by now, but he'd prefer not to run in to Szayel… only there's no other place he feels comfortable talking but for the home of one of the Espada. Everywhere else there's too high a risk of bugs or spies."

"Oh…" she placed the tiger on the table, "Well then, are we finally going to make a move?"

"Make a move?" Ggio laughed, "Little bee, we're doing a whole lot more than that; we might as well be flipping the game board."

Soi Fon could not quail his humor even with the most withering of glances.

….

A couple of hours later, there came a gentle, somehow unnerving tap at the door; Ggio pulled it open to reveal one of Soi Fon's least favorite people: The Espada Bat.

"Ulquiorra!" Ggio grinned, "Come on in…. you're alone, right?"

"As alone as I am going to get. I have… a most unfortunate accompaniment waiting for me downstairs," the corpse-like man answered in deadened tones.

"An escort?" Ggio asked, his tone suddenly serious and eyes hard, "You shouldn't have come here if you knew you had guys on you."

"Not an escort," the other man said frigidly, "I am no fool Ggiovanni; They are simply others who are sick of following Aizen's every dictation. People who have something that they want to protect."

"Fine," Ggio shot back, "Then we'll have to make this fast."

"I would not have it any other way."

The two men sat at the round kitchen table, neither one saying much for a moment before Ulquiorra spoke up.

"The point of lowest guard will be two days from now at twenty-eight minutes past four in the afternoon. There will be two rookies in the mix as the guard is exchanged, and a prisoner will be in the middle of being moved. It you can utilize these weaknesses successfully, you may be able to accomplish what you wish," the pale man murmured, his words flowing rapidly but without passion, "I pulled a few strings to try and make things easier on you; it will give me no benefit if you end up dead."

"You 'pulled a few strings'?" Soi Fon asked, coming around behind Ggio, "And you accomplished this… how?"

"I have eyes everywhere. I-" the pale man said coldly, before his words cut off in mild surprise. A pair of slender female hands slipped over his supposedly all-seeing green eyes, covering his line of sight. His body tensed visibly, and Ggio stifled a laugh.

"So _this_ was you 'unfortunate accompaniment', Ulqiuorra?" Ggio snickered, "Not so unfortunate in my opinion!"

"Guess who?" the woman behind the Bat asked sweetly in a strangely childish voice that was light with joy and bubbly with laughter. Soi Fon narrowed her eyes at this intruder, mildly affronted, and definitely confused. Before she could begin really analyzing the newcomer, however, Ulquiorra made his annoyance clear.

"I thought I told you to stay in the car, Nel," he said flatly. The woman behind him pouted and removed her hands.

"I got bored- and Grimmjow wouldn't let me turn on the radio!" she furrowed her eyebrows fiercely and put a scowl in place, lowering her voice in an impression of someone. Having never met this 'Grimmjow', Soi Fon had no idea if the impression was good or bad, but Ggio seemed to find it highly amusing at the very least, "I said no!" the woman growled in her newly lowered voice, "I'm trying to take a nap! And don't touch anything! We all know that you shouldn't be allowed near anything with moving parts!"

"So Grimmjow is sleeping," Ulquiorra muttered, "That fool is going to get us all-"

"_Who_'s a fool?" another voice snarled as yet another visitor entered the already crowded kitchen, "I'm not the one who told _her_ to stay put and expected her to listen!"

"I expected you to take care of her at the very least; it seems you don't do that very well, for all your promises," the shorter of the two males rebuked harshly.

"You-!" the second man began loudly.

"Guys?" Ggio spoke up, "Not to be rude here, but this isn't my house. You didn't like, break the lock or anything, right?"

"Door was open when I got here," the second man, who Soi Fon assumed was Grimmjow, growled lowly. He seemed like a giant in the room full of shorter people, standing at a little over six feet. His hair was a shocking electric blue that matched the color of his eyes, which were currently narrowed in displeasure; his well-muscled arms were folded over his chest, and he was clad in dark jeans and a red sweatshirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His shoes were scuffed and he had a generally rough-and-tumble appearance about him.

"I picked the lock," the woman said shamefacedly, edging close to Grimmjow and grabbing his arm, clinging to him tightly. In contrast to the man, the girl Ulquiorra had called Nel was oozing playful energy, her green eyes sparkling happily, but strangely vacantly. Her long green hair was in a wild mess of wavy curls that tumbled down her back from under the bandana she was using as a headband. Her shirt was hemmed above her belly button, exposing her well toned stomach, and her cut-off jean shorts stopped well above the knees, but she was also wearing an overlarge windbreak that seemed to belong to the man whose arm she was burying her face in. She was tall for a woman, probably about the same size as Tesla; Soi Fon briefly wondered what bra size the woman wore before she decided she didn't care, "I picked it because I could hear Ulqui inside."

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at the nickname.

"Well that's alright," Ggio smiled, "As long as nothing's broken. It's been a while, Neliel."

The woman cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows as if trying to remember something. As she did so, her bangs fell away from her forehead, revealing a large scar marring her pretty features. It slashed diagonally, gleaming almost silvery against her skin.

"You're… um…"

"Don't tease her like that Ggio," Grimmjow sighed tiredly, unfolding his arm to rub one hand across the top of her head. She looked up at him and smiled, leaning her head against his arm.

"I was serious," Ggio laughed, but without any real conviction, "I'm a bit bummed she doesn't remember little old me, but what can I do? We only met once, and I was hidden behind Barragan the whole time… Ah what the hell, let's go to the living room, this kitchen is too small for five people."

Soi Fon followed her companion out of the room, her mind racing a mile a minute. If they had to leave in the next two days, optimally Ggio's shoulder would have at least the bone healed. The rest of the wound would take much longer, but as long as he wasn't doing anything too difficult she thought the stitches would hold.

On the other hand, they'd have to get bullets from Szayel and do other such preparations. There was no way they could be _too _prepared for this run, and they didn't have much time… but here was Ggio, chatting with their source plus two others like they had all the time in the world.

"So," the man in question said, sitting Indian style in one of the armchairs in the room as Soi Fon sat beside him. Grimmjow and Nel took the couch, the woman tucking her legs beneath her, and Ulquiorra pulled one of the straight-backed wooden chairs from the kitchen to give himself some space, "Why's everyone here anyway? I mean, I know Ulquiorra's doing this for money for his girl, but as for you two… why bother coming if you might get in trouble with Aizen for it?"

He stared at Grimmjow in particular as Nel yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Hey," she murmured, catching the tall man's attention, "Where are we?"

"We're in Szayel's house," the blue-haired man answered calmly, "We came with Ulquiorra on business. Do you remember?"

She shook her head, looking bemused and a bit frightened, "I don't. Why… why does this keep happening? I'm scared, Grimmjow."

The man ran his fingers through Nel's hair, his expression gentle, but his eyes flashing with self directed anger at his own helplessness.

"It'll be okay," Grimmjow told her, "You'll be okay; I won't let anything happen to you, and I won't let you forget anything important. You can rest if you're tired."

"Oh… you're still here, so it should be fine for now… right?" she sighed, her head dropping against his shoulder and falling into a doze. He lifted his eyes from her face to look at Ggio once more, his face black with fury.

"You think I'm going to cast my lot with the guy who did this to her? First chance I get, I'm going to shove that son of a bitch Nnoitra out an eighth story window and see how _he _likes it. And if he survives I'll crush his skull with my bare hands," Grimmjow snarled, and Soi Fon could tell her meant it, "And as for Aizen... Once he heard about Nel's condition he cut her off. Years of her service, worthless to him… that bastard doesn't deserve my respect anymore."

"Control yourself Grimmjow," Ulquiorra commanded quietly, turning his empty stare on Ggio, "In any case, as you said, I did this for money."

"Ah right," Ggio snapped his fingers, "What's the price you're laying on us 'Ulqui'?"

"Call me by my full name," the Bat demanded, echoing words Soi Fon herself had uttered so many times, "and I've settled at $5,143."

Ggio winced at that number.

"Ouch," he complained, "That's not pretty. Not like I expected your service to be cheap, but… why _that _particular number? It's just so…."

"Random?" Soi Fon finished for him.

"That's how much is left on Orihime's balance," Ulquiorra replied, "So it's what I'm asking from you."

"I see…" Ggio heaved a sigh, "I really didn't want to have to do this, but Tesla's gonna be pissed as hell when he sees me anyway, so I might as well…"

Soi Fon watched as Ggio wrote out a check to Ulquiorra for the amount, not missing the fact that his hand was shaking ever so slightly as he signed his name. She looked at his face and noticed, not without some surprise, that there were tears in his eyes.

"My money!" he sobbed, "All for some lady I don't even _know_!"

"Oh shut up," Soi Fon snorted, "When we go and steal what you wanted you'll be practically swimming in cash. You can put up with it for now."

"Yeah," he sniffled sadly as Ulquiorra folded and pocketed the check, Grimmjow smirking at the amber-eyed man's pain. Ggio jumped in surprise as the front door opened behind him, admitting a sixth person, the owner of the house. Szayel halted in the doorway, something that was more than irritation but less than anger spreading over his face.

His clothing was spotted with blood and he had a mark on one cheek, his glasses in his hand as he glared at the visitors in his living room.

"Oh," he said with some malice, "If it isn't the one-man asylum and the charity case. Mind if I ask what you're doing in my house, Schiffer, Jeagerjaques?"

"Leaving," Ulquiorra answered, "We had business with your guest, but we're finished now."

The Bat held open the door for the still half-asleep Nel, watching from his peripheral as Grimmjow narrowed his eyes, holding Szayel's gaze in a battle of will before he left. Ulquiorra nodded to Ggio, then to Soi Fon, and followed after the other two, closing the door behind him.

"What have _you_ been up to?" Ggio asked Szayel, leaning back slightly to look at the blood on his clothing as the doctor polished his glasses on his shirt.

"I had work involving a bone saw and some strong liquor," the pink haired man answered almost too calmly, "What business did you have with my coworkers?"

"A bone saw and-? Actually I don't want to know," Ggio shook his head, "But you'll be pleased to note that we'll be leaving you in peace the day after tomorrow, and _hopefully_ won't be back."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Ggio grinned, "We're making another run!"

"Don't get shot this time," Szayel grumbled.

"I don't plan on it," Ggio grimaced, touching his shoulder for emphasis.

"You didn't plan on it the first time either," Soi Fon pointed out as she left the room, the two men staring after her.

_This time_, she thought_, we'll get her back this time._

_We have to. _


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Well ladies and **_**maybe **_**gentlemen (I mean, a guy could be reading this I guess but I haven't encountered any so far…) I had a fantastic week. I confessed to the boy I like and it turns out he's liked me for a while! The only thing is… I'm close friends with his ex, which could be potentially awkward…. But, due to my extreme happiness, I present you with this chapter! I mean, you would have gotten it anyway, but…. Well you know. Here it is lovely readers! And for you French historians, I used a rather famous piece of history in the title!**

Storm the Bastille! 

"Ggio," Soi Fon said flatly, staring at her companion as he slouched low in the drivers' seat, seemingly carefree as he tapped his fingers to the beat of the song on the radio which happened to be _Lay Me Down_, by the Dirty Heads.

"Hmmm?" he responded lazily, removing his eyes from the blank stretch of road leading up to the prison in order to look her straight in the eye. This would have concerned her, but she had bigger things on her mind to distract her from this. Also, there were no other cars within viewable distance, which soothed her a bit.

"You don't seem to worried about this,"

"Nope…." He answered listlessly, turning back to look ahead of him once more, "Everything'll be fine."

"How can you be so sure about that? I mean, what we're doing now is far more risky than what we tried the first time, and look how _that _turned out!" she hit him lightly on the shoulder and he cringed, his sleepy air diminishing somewhat as the pain snapped him awake.

"More risky?" he repeated, "Naw. This way we'll be in a crowd of people, so the likelihood of getting hit goes down for us. We'll sacrifice effort for the sake of time…. I'm not saying this isn't dangerous, but no worse than anything we've done before."

Soi Fon made no reply and turned to stare out the window, eyebrows furrowed. She was undeniably more nervous than when they had made their first run, a thousand what-ifs running through her head.

_What if we aren't able to get Yoruichi back?_

_ What if we ourselves get caught?_

_ What if someone gets hurt again?_

_ What if when we get her, Ggio changes? If he decides we're less useful than he thought? If he decides he doesn't need us and breaks off our deal?_

_ But_, another part of her mind whispered darkly_, would it matter? You would have gotten Yoruichi back for no cost at all! A good exchange…._

_ I only care to stay t_o _keep my promise_, Soi Fon argued to herself_, No reason beside that. It's a question of honor, and of pride_.

_Keep telling yourself that_, the dark voice murmured, full of laughter_, Keep lying to yourself_.

Soi Fon shook her head and cleared it of thought, watching the divider line painted on the road run by across the black tar as it shimmered in the pale almost-winter sun, thinking nothing, nothing, nothing…

Not even 'what if…?'

…

Soi Fon and Ggio stood beside the prison fence, staring through the loops of metal at the entrance at the single guard that stood beside the gate during the watch change.

"How you wanna do this?" Ggio murmured to his companion without removing his eyes from the quarry, "You wanna go, or should I?"

"I'll do it," Soi Fon muttered back, sounding irritated. Ggio didn't know why she'd be angry, but she was a woman, so it was probably for some inexplicable reason that even she couldn't pinpoint, so he didn't ask. He watched as she slipped, like a shadow, across the ground, rising behind the guard without detection and cracking him hard on the temple so that he slid to the ground without a cry. Ggio walked to where she was without fear of being seen now, and whistled lowly.

"That is some scary shit that you can do, you know that?" he laughed.

"'Scary shit' that saved your ass before, now shut up and get in here," Soi Fon shot back through her teeth. Ggio realized that she wasn't angry, just tense- maybe even scared. He found her mood strangely endearing, and despite the situation, smiled and gave a slightly mocking bow before entering, spinning his gun out of its holster. Soi Fon only glared at him, following directly after.

Ggio slipped in, and rather than their previous attempt at stealth, simply strolled right up to the shocked guards and promptly shot one.

"Sorry about this," he commented as he stepped over the body, and he genuinely looked it. Soi Fon wondered how much it bothered Ggio to have to severely injure, if not kill another person. He had obviously done it before, but she knew from experience that while repeating a painful scenario makes you callused, it doesn't make you inured to the damage.

The two continued to work their way through the prison, avoiding fights where they could. Soi Fon was holding her breath the whole way, but was determined to free her friend no matter the cost, so she pushed forward, being as helpful as she could. Eventually they made it to a control room that held the panel for opening cells. Usually there would be someone manning it, opening cells at request, one or two at a time, when everyone was prepared. Now, Ggio held his hand over the set of switches and looked at Soi Fon.

"Ready?" he asked, "This is where it'll get messy. We can back out now if you want."

"Do it," she gritted, "Why would you even ask? We came this far, we might as well finish the job."

"If you say so," he shrugged mildly, and he slid his hand down. There was a clanging sound heard, and the two were hit with a wall of noise: the prisoners were free. Shouts rent the air, some joyful, some angry, some scared, some pained. The sound of a thousand feet rumbled, and Ggio turned back to the door, "Think you'll be able to find your friend?" he yelled over the noise.

Soi Fon nodded confidently, and Ggio threw the door open.

…

Kisuke stared at the open door as Yoruichi pushed herself up onto her elbows to gaze in shock from the top bunk. Outside, those who were faster on the uptake had begun whooping loudly with the ecstasy of freedom as the rest trembled in the surprise.

The ochre eyed woman swung down from her perch with excitement as Kisuke approached the open cell door cautiously, sending her a glance of askance.

"Do you think there's been some sort of emergency outside? A zombie invasion? Maybe aliens?" he asked, only joking with the last two questions.

"No," Yoruichi laughed gleefully slapping him on the back, "I'm guessing Soi Fon."

"Isn't your friend a little reckless? Assuming it's her?"

The woman shrugged, "Reckless or not, this is our way out. You coming with me?"

"Of course!" Kisuke grinned, "Not like I'd ever get a hearing anyways!"

As the two exchanged words, a large man came and stood in the doorway as a riot began outside. A vein pulsed in his forehead as he stared down at the two still in their cell.

"Hey asshole," he growled lowly to Yoruichi, "We got some unfinished business."

"Listen, I don't really have time for this," the exotic woman sighed nonchalantly, attempting to duck around the man, "I've got someplace I gotta be."

"You faggot, get back here before I-" the man snarled, making a grab for the cat thief. He fully expected for his hands to knock her backwards, but his blow met no resistance.

Kisuke watched in disbelief as Yoruichi unveiled a starling display of lightning-fast martial moves, ending with her opponent toppling to the floor with a thud. Outside the crowd surged on as hundreds of people struggled for freedom.

The woman noticed her companion's stare and winked at him.

"They don't call me the Goddess of Flash for nothing," she grinned as she grabbed his arm, "Now let's go and see if we can get out of here."

….

"See her yet?" Ggio asked for the fourth or fifth time, the urgency beginning to bleed out of his voice as the question and answer became routine from their lofty position.

"Not yet," Soi Fon replied as she had before, "I'll keep looking."

Ggio stifled a yawn, and shot randomly at a wall across the room, the gunshot ringing across the crowd and stirring up a frenzy below.

"What the hell are you doing?" his female accompaniment snapped at him, whipping her head around to glare. He made a shooing motion so that she would keep watching the crowd below before answering.

"Well, wasting a bullet and getting everyone to move faster. If we don't see your friend in the next five minutes, we're getting out of her. We gotta think of our own skins too you know." Ggio told her.

"If it was Tesla down there would you leave?" she bit at him, expecting him to hesitate, but he answered quickly.

"Yes. Because I would trust Tes to get out on his own. He knows my habits and my hideouts, so he'd find me okay."

Soi Fon shook her head in annoyance, and raised her eyes almost too late, barely catching a flash of bright purple in a twisting brawl down the hall a ways. She bolted upright, almost hitting her head on the concrete ceiling over where they had wedged themselves in the control room.

"There!" she cried, jumping down into the crowd. Ggio sighed, but followed quickly, slipping through the flood of people like a salmon running up-current. He caught up to Soi Fon, surpassed her, and saw a large man grappling with a slender, dark skinned person with violently violet hair tied up in a messy ponytail. The person was fast, very fast, but tiring. There was a blonde man by the person's side, holding his own as well, but it was obvious that they were flagging.

Ggio looked back at Soi Fon who was being swept back by the tide, and heard her voice over the roar of sound.

"_That's her_!" the silver-eyed woman screamed at him. Ggio huffed again, and rather than drawing attention to himself by firing his gun a second time, he tucked it in his waistband and resorted to hand-to-hand tactics.

He swung his leg hard into the kidneys of the man who was attacking their target person and watched the assailant drop to his knees. As soon as he was down, Ggio slammed a booted foot into the back of the man's head, knocking him out and more than likely breaking his face.

He suddenly found himself face to face with the dark skinned person as the blonde behind her dusted himself off rather lazily. Ochre met ochre as they held one another's gaze before Ggio turned away, telling the woman to follow him if she were coming.

The other two complied and stuck close to him as he forced his way back toward Soi Fon.

Pain was rampant in the right side of his body but he clenched his teeth and ignored it as they came upon his dark haired partner, grabbed her hand, and lead her out. He glanced behind him quickly to ensure that the other was following, and was relieved to see that she was. Once outside, Ggio slowed his pace a bit and ended up leaning on the hood of the Aston Martin for a moment to catch his breath. Behind him he could hear sounds of reunion through a film of agony.

"Yoruichi!" Soi Fon was practically sobbing with relief, "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you?"

"No, no!" the other woman laughed, "I'm surprised you have to ask! You should know I can hold my own pretty well!"

"Of course," the paler of the two females giggled through her tears, "How could I forget? But I was so worried!"

"Well I can see you didn't get lonely," Yoruichi joked, "Finding yourself a man an' all.

"No!" Soi Fon cried in denial, "No no, Ggio's-"

"Get in," Ggio snapped, trying to hold himself together. He was pretty sure he had torn through the stitches Szayel had put into his shoulder, but there was nothing he could do about it… Soi Fon would refuse driving if he asked, being as underconfident in her driving as she was, and the other woman was in an orange jumpsuit… not the best garb for people trying to play it cool.

He swung himself into the car and started it, tuning out Soi Fon's happy chatter as she got into the passenger seat beside him. A tired sort of haze settled over him as they pulled out of the prison gates, leaving the corrupt, cartel-led police department with a huge mess on their hands.

Well, not like he didn't have a mess of his own to take care of.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Alright, I know this chapter probably sucks…. it was written in about thirty minutes pretty late at night because I had my grandma sleeping in my room and was therefore unable to have access to my computer…. But I still wanted to give you guys SOMETHING, so here it is… Oh, and there's a poll on my profile that will directly affect this story, so go take a look, yeah?**

Motel 6? I Think Not.

Ggio drove one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting limply across his lap as his right arm burned from the shoulder down in a fiery pain that dulled his senses, barely hearing the chatter in the car around him as Soi Fon reunited with her friend… there was a third person in the car, the same man who had been with the woman they had gone to pick up, but Ggio couldn't focus, couldn't _think_, and it was taking all of his concentration keep the car moving in a straight line.

"-so you acted as a man and shared a cell with this guy?" he heard Soi Fon ask in mild surprise. She seemed to be in shock that they had actually pulled it off, the idea that Yoruichi was back and that she had been_ sharing a bunk_ with a _man_ not quite sinking in.

"Of course!" Yoruichi laughed in reply, "There would've been no real reason to go under my real name- I knew you were gonna get me out! And besides, bunking with Kisuke was alright… we had fun playing hangman and tic-tac-toe at least."

"She had me fooled for a while," the blonde man grinned, his green eyes shining through his bangs as they fell across his face, "But when she got really mad you could tell she was a woman from the way she spoke… I still say I'm the hangman master."

"Oh come on," the purple haired woman slapped the man lightly on the arm, "I think both my acting and hanging skills are pretty adept, Kisuke."

"I didn't say they weren't- Ururu would probably appreciate your playing style…" he trailed off, blinking.

"What?" Yoruichi asked as Soi Fon twisted in her seat to look at the two in the back.

"Oh I was just thinking… Jinta's probably been bullying Ururu the whole time I've been gone. He's younger than she is, but she just won't stand up to him. Hopefully Tessai will have done something to keep him in check or I might come home to a very battered little girl…"

"Oh, so you have kids," Soi Fon commented, sounding somewhat relieved in comparison to the previously slightly hostile tone she had used with the man, as if he wasn't worthy of the prize of sharing a cell with her friend.

"Well they're not really mine," Kisuke explained, "I adopted them."

"But you're married?" Now Ggio's companion sounded hopeful instead.

"No, I'm a bachelor… why?"

Soi Fon opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as the car rolled to a halt at the side of the road. Whatever she had been about to say slipped away as she changed her words.

"Ggio, why are we st-"

She looked over at the black haired man to see him slump forward, his left hand pressed against his right shoulder, until his forehead touched the steering wheel, cutting off as he began to yell.

"Fuck," he growled, growing progressively louder, "Fuck, _fuck, FUCK!"_

There was a ringing silence in the car as the other three passengers stared at the driver, who breathed out slowly to try and keep his head.

"Ggio, what…?" Soi Fon trailed off, staring at him in confusion. When Ggio spoke again, he sounded tired.

"Soi Fon, drive please," his voice was tightly controlled, but shaking with obvious strain; Soi Fon became concerned, opening her mouth to ask him if he was okay, but was cut off by Yoruichi.

"You're asking _Soi Fon_ to drive? Are you trying to _kill_ us?" she cried. Kisuke was simply looking between the three of them, nonplussed. Ggio didn't move, repeating his plea.

"Please," he said again. When no reply came he unbuckled his seat belt, opened the door and got out of the car. Perplexed, Soi Fon followed suit if only to talk to him better; Yoruichi shrugged and jumped out as well, and Kisuke, being the last one in the car crawled out on his own.

"Come here," Ggio commanded, and out of pure spite, for she was not too willing to oblige him when he was ordering her around, Soi Fon came around the side of the car and stood a good eight feet from him. He narrowed his eyes and then sighed, obviously frustrated, "Look, just for a while little bee, I just need you to drive for a little while…"

"Ggio, I don't know how many ways to tell you this so you'll understand, I _can't drive_," Soi Fon responded pointedly. He was almost _begging _her it seemed like, but she wasn't going to put all of them at risk because he wanted to be selfish. Whatever response she expected, it wasn't the one she got.

"Damn your lack of confidence!" Ggio roared slamming one fist against the frame of the car, "You got us to Szayel's alright, didn't you?"

"Look at the thing Ggio," she snapped back as Yoruichi and Kisuke looked on, stunned by Ggio's sudden outburst, "The paint is gone from one side and I don't even know where the side mirror ended up! If I had been a little bit later in getting control back you could have been crushed in half by a lamp post!"

"Fuck the paint!" he snarled, and Soi Fon stumbled mentally, wanting to grow angry but instead finding herself hurt that he would take such a tone with her, "And the side mirror!"

"But Tesla-"

"Fuck Tesla too!" Ggio bit at her.

"What is the _matter_ with you?!" Soi Fon yelled, her silvered brown eyes darting over his face and taking in the hard lines of stress, and the wild, irrational look in his gaze; she didn't like it. Interrupting her question, the blonde man Yoruichi had been cell-mates with tapped Ggoi lightly on the shoulder as he got out of the car. Ggio stiffened and whipped around, pulling out his gun in the blink of an eye and training the barrel between the other man's eyes.

"I still have no idea who the hell you are," he growled as the fourth member of their party closed the car door behind him. Kisuke raised his green eyes to look steadily at Ggio as if he couldn't see the gun, "And I'll admit I'm not over-fond of hitchhikers. Your excuse better be a good one, because if I don't like it…"

"Listen," Kisuke said warmly with a smile, "Let's discuss this calmly, alright?"

Ggio's gaze remained stony, and the gun didn't lower even a centimeter. Soi Fon started forward to tell Ggio to knock it off, that the man had been brought along by Yoruichi, but the violet-haired woman in question stopped her. The shorter of the two looked up at her friend, watching her amber eyes as the dark skinned woman shook her head gravely.

"My name is Kisuke Urahara," he began, "I was placed in jail because I'm a smuggler."

"Bullshit," Ggio snapped, ramming the gun directly against the blonde man's forehead, "That bastard Aizen runs the smuggling business; you're with them?"

"No, no… you see, my smuggled goods went to people who were resisting the Espada. Aizen didn't like that, so..." he spread his arms as if to say, _here's the result_, "From what I gather, you're not a fan of our current government yourself. Oh, and I have a friend who can fix that for you. It seems to be bothering you quite a bit… that's why you asked her to drive, right?"

Kisuke made a slight movement toward Ggio's shoulder, and the dark haired man flinched back as if he had been stung, his gun falling back to his side.

"I'm fine," he said quickly, tucking his gun back into his waistband "It's fine."

"I was going to tell you you're bleeding through your shirt when you pointed a gun at me," the blonde said mildly, pointing at the dark crimson splotch that was still widening against the pale tan of the shirt Ggio was wearing, his jacket having flipped open to reveal the spot. His eyes darted to Soi Fon's face, locking gazes with her. She took a step forward, guilt, anger and worry swirling in her eyes, clashing with pain and apology mixing in Ggio's, but his knees buckled and he fell back, sagging against the hood of the car, keeping himself from falling with his arms.

They all heard the strange, sick tearing pop that left Ggio gasping soundlessly, pressing one hand into his shoulder as if to hold himself together. Soi Fon rushed forward in case there would be a need to catch him, but he waved her off.

"Sorry," he gritted, "Give it a minute…"

"No," she told him firmly stepping forward once more, "Let me have a look!"

Ggio looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he turned his head in the opposite direction as Soi Fon pushed his hand out of the way, peeling back the collar of his shirt. She narrowed her silvery eyes at the gap in the flesh; it looked incredibly painful. The edges were red and swollen around what stitching remained. On one end of the ragged wound, three of the seven stitches had ceased to have use: two having popped apart and one having ripped at the skin itself. Blood was smeared across his pale, uninjured flesh in ugly streaks, half dried.

"We need to get you patched up," Soi Fon said after a minute, trying to look at Ggio despite the fact that he was avoiding her gaze, "A hospital or an urgent care room."

"We're not going anywhere but the hotel," Ggio protested, "We can't afford to waste time here… Especially not with the two of them dressed like that."

Soi Fon looked at Yoruichi and Kisuke, who were standing on the side of the road in orange jumpsuits.

"You don't have anything for them to change into?" she asked, turning back to the wound and prodding it lightly with the tip of one finger. Ggio hissed in pain and shrugged away from her, pulling the collar of his shirt back up.

"I do, for her but not for him," he answered her slightly accusatory tone a bit coldly; "I had the clothing sent ahead of us to the hotel."

"What the hell did you do_ that _for?" Soi Fon cried in exasperation, throwing her hands in the air.

"Probably because he was anticipating the possibility of being chased from the prison, right? There'd be no time to change clothes if that happened," Yoruichi pointed out. Ggio gave a begrudgingly impressed nod.

"Where are we going?" Kisuke piped up from beside his ex-cell mate. Ggio stared at him.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're going nowhere," he said to the blonde, "_You _were never part of the bargain."

"He's coming," that violet haired woman announced confidently, "Because I promised him he could come with me until we could drop him off somewhere close to his house."

"If Yoruichi wants to bring him I think we should, Ggio," Soi Fon added. Ggio stared between the two of them, dropping his head after a moment.

"….Seriously?" Ggio groaned, "Oh for fuck's sake, just get in the damn car and let's go. It's obvious I'm not winning this one."

"Hey wait, are you okay to drive?" Soi Fon asked, grabbing his sleeve as he brushed past her. He gave a wan smile.

"I'll have to be, won't I? Since none of the rest of you can drive," with that he pulled his sleeve out of her grasp and pulled open the driver's side door, sliding in with the other two. Soi Fon got in after a moment as well, but she was unhappy about it.

Her stomach churned with unwonted, unwarranted, unwanted anxiety over Ggio's condition, and to take her mind off it she looked out the window for the rest of the drive, not bothering to look, not noticing the pair of remorseful ochre eyes that gazed at her from the driver's seat.

….

"Hi, I'm Jaime Ravira, checking in for room 313?" Ggio began at the front desk, looking earnestly at the woman who ran it. She was wearing red-rimmed glasses, her roan hair cut in a short, flippy bob, her name tag reading _Chizuru_ with a small heart sticker attached. She glanced up, looking into Ggio's tired, almost sallow face, and then back at her papers.

"Yeah, you're for room 313 alright… even if you weren't I'd at least let you sleep on the couch. You look like you could use it," the receptionist said, unintentionally rudely as she handed Ggio the key card for the room.

Ggio smiled thinly, Soi Fon trying to keep her lips from twitching up in a faint smirk as she stood behind him. Yoruichi and Kisuke were waiting out in the car for the pair of them to return to the Aston with clothes so they could change out of their prison-garb, so it was just the original two standing in the lobby looking like they'd gone a week without sleep.

"Do you have any bags to take up? I can call Asano if you have something that needs carrying," the woman continued. Ggio shook his head, lifting his small munitions bag to show her.

"This is all, thanks. We called ahead and had our stuff taken up before we got here," he replied. Chizuru shrugged and turned back to her magazine, which as far as Soi Fon could tell, looked like something Ggio would read… there were a pair of scantily clad girls on the cover.

Soi Fon lead the way to the elevator, pressing the button to open it; the doors slid open and the two stepped inside, Ggio leaning casually on the railing after pressing the desired button to get them to their floor.

It was awkwardly silent for a minute, with nothing much happening except for the change in elevator-music tracks. Ggio seemed to be counting the tiles on the ceiling. At last the doors _ping_ed open and he and Soi Fon were free.

Ggio cast his gaze at Soi Fon once more, regretting his earlier outburst. She seemed to be willfully avoiding his gaze, because what could be so fucking interesting about the beige paint of the wall that she was choosing to stare at it the whole time they were walking to the room?

He sighed and shook his head, suddenly dizzy as he inserted the key card he had been given into the slit that served as a lock, the door clicking open.

"Stay here real quick," he said more brusquely than intended to his companion, and the instant of hurt surprise that he caught in her eyes stung more that the tear in his shoulder. He would apologize to her…. Later… when he had time. They were on a time crunch.

The sudden thought of time reminded him what he had come for, and he grabbed the bag off the bed before leaving the room to carry the things downstairs.

After all, he had two escaped convicts hiding in the back of a stolen car with a bag of unregistered guns in the back. A time crunch indeed.

…..

About twenty minutes later, the four of them trooped back upstairs Kisuke dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that Ggio had bought at the hotel gift store and Yoruichi in clothing that Soi Fon had brought with her, which entailed a v-neck long sleeved orange shirt, tight black jeans, and boots. The shortest one of the group was walking with her arm linked through Yoruichi's, the two males walking awkwardly up front beside one another, not speaking until they reached the room.

Ggio unlocked the door, miming throwing confetti as he stepped through.

"Welcome to your room everyone," he said dully, "hope you enjoy your stay, and if not you can get out."

"And I can just _hear _the conviction oozing out of your tone," Yoruichi reprimanded jokingly, not bothering to hide her grin. Ggio smirked at her as he stepped past the bathroom attachment, past the closet, and into the heart of the room.

The room smelled like cigar smoke, there was water on the bathroom floor, and one of the lamps in the room was broken, but that wasn't what bothered Soi Fon as she stared at Ggio, not sure if he'd done what he had on purpose or not.

"There are only two beds," she pointed out, and Ggio turned to glance at her from where he was changing his bloody shirt for a clean on, shrugging his jacket back on.

"Yeah," he replied, looking pointedly at Kisuke as he spoke,"I wasn't factoring in the possibility of having to bring extra passengers. I figured, I get one bed and you could share one with your friend."

"Well what now?" Kisuke asked, "There are four of us and two beds. We could still share I guess."

"If you think I'm sharing a bed with you tonight after we just got out of sharing a cell together, you are sadly mistaken Kisuke," Yoruichi laughed, "I'm giving myself some space tonight."

Ggio looked at Soi Fon, who shook her head hurriedly, "I'm not sharing with you either Ggio," she cried, spotting the smile in his eyes.

_If he's well enough to be thinking like that_…. She thought.

"Well I am _not_ sharing a bed with another man. It will _not _happen," Ggio said firmly, repeating himself for emphasis, "Not happening."

"Fine," Kisuke replied, crossing his arms over his chest, "We'll settle this like men,"

"What?"

"Rock, Paper, Scissors," the blonde said seriously. Ggio face-palmed, sighing.

"Really?"

Kisuke held out a fist, "Loser sleeps in the tub,"

"Fine," Ggio grumbled, holding out a fist, just as long as I don't have to share a mattress with you."

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, _Shoot_," the two chanted like school children. Ggio cracked open one eye, having shut them nervously before shooting. Soi Fon saw that his fingers were crossed behind his back, probably for good luck. When he did open his eyes however, he had chosen scissors while Kisuke had chosen paper.

"Alright!" Ggio cheered sleepily, "I get the bed,"

"At least give me a blanket?" the blonde man bartered. Yoruichi laughed and pointed down that hall.

"There's one in the closet next to the bathroom, bath-boy," she snickered as Kisuke gave her a grin and went to go find the comforter. She herself went into the bathroom to change into the pajamas Soi Fon had brought, as she had considered it inappropriate to walk from the car, through the lobby and to the room in a tank top and old boxers.

Meanwhile, Soi Fon had been watching Ggio struggle with the tie at the end of his braid. The fingers of his right hand fumbled with the rubber band, unable to undo it; the man seemed to be getting frustrated as he leaned against the headboard trying to make the braid come loose. Soi Fon considered asking Ggio if he wanted help, but knowing him he'd refuse. Instead, she simply sat down behind him and pulled the braid out of his hands.

"Thanks," he muttered, leaning his head against the headboard, letting Soi Fon unravel the braid. She had never touched his hair, _really _touched his hair before, she thought, not bothering to make a reply to him. It was soft and thick, but tangled at the ends. It looked like it would normally be bone-straight, but had kinked itself due to the amount of time it spent in a braid. Soi Fon began to detangle Ggio's hair with her fingers almost absent mindedly, not noticing when Yoruichi left the bathroom and stood staring at the two of them on the edge of the bed.

"Hey, Soi," Ggio murmured, his eyes closed as she worked her fingers through his hair.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "For yelling at you earlier."

Soi Fon failed to reply once more, only pausing in her work for a moment before continuing; now that the braid was out, she began wrapping the rubber band around his hair to make a pony tail.

"Ah…" Ggio's voice had grown softer, "You are mad at me. I won't…. make excuses. I'm kind of a dick. Sorry Little Bee."

"You are," Soi Fon replied at last, "But I'm not mad."

This time it was Ggio who didn't answer, and when Soi Fon looked, he had fallen asleep sitting up. He looked strangely vulnerable and childlike up close, she thought as she pushed him down onto the mattress to make sure he didn't fall.

Soi Fon looked up to see Yoruichi watching her, a knowing smirk on her lips. The dark skinned woman came over and sat on the girl's bed, her legs folded Indian style.

"You got it bad," she laughed quietly, wary of Ggio's fitful doze.

"What?" Soi Fon wondered, not sure what her friend was talking about.

"To think you'd fall for a guy like that… well, I can't say I've known him long enough to approve or disapprove of your choice, but if there's someone you- who said you'd be single for the rest of your life- love, then I'll support you," Yoruichi grinned, sweeping her hair out of her eyes.

"I don't _love _Ggio!" Soi Fon snapped, "I don't even _like_ him! I made a deal with him to get you back is all!"

"We'll see," the other woman smirked with that irritatingly smug look of knowing, "We'll see."

_We'll see indeed_, Soi Fon thought moodily while putting on her own pajamas.

But she couldn't stop herself from casting another glance at Ggio's sleeping face before falling into slumber herself.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hello lovelies! I hope everyone is doing well! Here is the next chapter of FJ, for once on schedule! Just letting everyone know, the poll for Tesla's girlfriend (who will be appearing next chapter based on popular vote) is still up for anyone who wants to put any last minute input up. I hope you enjoy this chapter, drop a review to let me know what you think :)**

Home is Where the Heart is

Yoruichi rose early the next morning, intent on getting to the shower first- no way in hell was she sharing a towel with _anyone_… except maybe Soi Fon, but she still wanted to get to the bathroom first to have her pick out of the two towels there were.

She shut the door, the room dark and her bare feet gripping the cold tile in a way that sent shivers up her spine as she stripped out of her pajamas, stepping over to the tub. She felt something soft against her ankle, looking down to see wide, shocked green eyes staring up from under a mop of blonde hair and a blanket.

Kisuke cleared his throat awkwardly, staring up at Yoruichi's naked body and expecting to be kicked in the face. He had bedded down in the low-rimmed tub by cocooning himself in the comforter he had found in the closet, and he woke up to find a lean, exotic woman standing naked over him. He wasn't dreaming, that was for sure, because he could feel the crick in his neck, but he was _seriously_ confused.

"Oh," the dark skinned woman stepped back to give him room to move, "I forgot you were here."

"Yeah," the man answered, not quite sure what to say as he sat up. She wasn't even bothering to cover herself up, despite the fact that there were folded clothes on the counter beside her, "I'll just… I'll just go then."

"Yup, ask Soi Fon to make coffee, will you? She makes it pretty strong," with that, Yoruichi stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed.

Kisuke checked the mirror to makes sure his nose wasn't bleeding.

…

"Ggio," Soi Fon called from the table that was set up in the small room, placing a water filled coffee pot on the counter and pulling out a bag of grounds from the cupboards, looking over her shoulder to see the man in question laying face down on the bed, still clothed and with his shoes on, holding a pillow over his head just like he had been when she had woken up half an hour ago. His long hair, still wrapped in the ponytail she had put it in the night before, streamed across the cream colored blankets like the River Styx.

"Hn," he grunted, slightly muffled by the pillow.

"Are you going to smother yourself or get your ass out of bed?"

"Mph," he grumbled, rolling over but holding the pillow in place so that when he lay on his back it was behind his head, "Neither."

"Holy shit," Kisuke said blankly, closing the bathroom door, the green comforter in one hand.

"Well, you look like your morning is off to a good start," Ggio commented both sleepily and uncaringly, as if the blonde 'hitchhiker' was unworthy of his attention, "Mind sharing?"

"Yoruichi just- she kind of- the bath… boobs. That's all I have to say, boobs," the blonde held up his hands to shoulder height like a man with a gun to his head before disappearing down the hall.

Ggio sat up suddenly and stared after him, the look of amazement upon his face quickly changing to one of uncomfortable nausea as he clutched at his head.

"Fuck," he muttered, narrowing his eyes uncomfortably.

"What?"

"Headrush," he replied, "Just sat up too fast is all,"

"Mm," she turned back to the counter and placed a filter in the coffee maker.

"I think we're good to go home today," Ggio said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and wincing as he found one foot to be asleep thanks to the tightness of the laces on his shoes and the position he had been laying in.

"That's good," Soi Fon said noncommittally, not really listening as she measured coffee grounds into the filter; a sudden thought struck her, "How will Tesla react?"

"Oh God," her companion groaned, "He'll probably flip out, and he might cry. Whether he's angry or just relieved will depend on which side of the bed he woke up on this morning."

"You should have called him in between times," the woman reprimanded, "The poor man is probably giving himself ulcers and checking the news every five minutes to see if any bodies have been dragged out of ditches recently."

"If I had called him he just would have made us come home, which would have been counteractive; and anyway, if you were so concerned about it _you_ could have called," Ggio pointed out, sweeping his hair over one shoulder and beginning to weave his typical tight, four-stranded braid with a practiced hand.

"I don't have his number," the dark haired woman reminded as she came back into the main room, the aroma of fresh coffee trailing after her as she went to look for something in her bag.

"Oh, yeah huh? You don't have mind either. Or Szayel's, or Yylfordt's, or Ulquiorra's, or anyone else for that matter."

"I think just you and Tesla would be alright, thank you very much," Soi Fon said with distaste, adding as an afterthought, "Szayel's might be useful too."

"Give me your phone, I'll put them all in for you," Ggio told her, holding his hand out and still seated on the bed. She handed her phone over warily, watching his face.

"Only you, Tesla, and Szayel, understand?"

"Got it," he muttered, typing in numbers so quickly his fingers seemed to barely tap the buttons. As he was doing this, the bathroom door opened in the hallway and Yoruichi stepped out in a cloud of steam, still wringing out her long violet hair.

"Anyone got a cig?" she asked, looking around. Ggio shook his head mutely, handing Soi Fon's phone back to her, and Kisuke peered around the hall corner with another negative reply.

"Nope,"

"Damn. Ooh, coffee!" the dark skinned woman trilled, spinning into the kitchen, "Caffeine is almost as good as nicotine, but not quite. I'll make do."

"Do we have cream…?" Kisuke wondered, wandering over on his own, "And sugar too, lots of sugar."

"What are you trying to do, kill the flavor?" Yoruichi asked the man as he tore open four packets of sugar he had found in a small basket on the counter and poured them in simultaneously.

"I just can't stand bitter things," the man grinned at her, "I think life is bitter enough as it is, better take the sweet things when you can."

"Mm," she nodded, winking at Soi Fon as her friend came to stand beside her, leaving Ggio sitting on the bed staring between his knees, "Good motto, that. Good coffee too,"

"Ggio do you want any?" Soi Fon called after pouring herself a cup. Ggio looked up wanly and staggered to his feet; he swallowed hard and closed his eyes as if steeling himself for something before making his answer.

"It might help I guess… yeah, I would thanks," he said, and Soi Fon noticed what he had been reacting to. The blood that had soaked onto his shirt had then stuck the fabric to the wound itself, so when he woke up there was a section of his shirt that was scabbed to the hole in his shoulder. The act of standing had tugged it out of place and torn the scab a bit, staring a thin flow of red.

"Damn it Ggio," Soi Fon cried in anxiety disguised as exasperation, "When are you going to stop trying to hide that type of thing? Here,"

"I wasn't trying to hide it," he complained as she shoved a mug into his hands, printed with the hotel logo on a white background, "I just didn't realize how bad it was until I stood up."

"Sure tough guy," Yoruichi said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Ggio looked at her for a moment, not sure if he was going to be offended or amused, but ended up dismissing either notion as he turned his attention back to Soi Fon.

"I think it would be best if we left as soon as everyone was ready. We won't really be able to relax until we're back home."

"You seemed pretty relaxed when you had your head buried under that pillow like an ostrich," Kisuke pointed out.

Ggio stared at him.

"I can afford to relax," he said at length, "You, on the other hand are not only a prisoner who escaped during a riot, you also would be found to be in association with an Espada defector. No matter who picked you up you'd be screwed."

The tall blonde simply raised his eyebrows and looked into his coffee mug as he swirled what was left around the bottom.

"Regardless," the ochre eyed man continued, "The sooner we leave the better, but it's not like we're in a huge rush either. Just make sure you don't stall and get what you need to done."

….

"So…. Where do you guys live?" Yoruichi wondered from the back seat of the Aston about twenty five minutes later.

"A bar," Ggio answered as he pulled the car out of the parking lot and into traffic, "In a flat over the taproom."

"You sure know how to pick them, Soi Fon!" the dark skinned woman laughed, "Living in a bar? That's great! Can we have a drink when we get there?"

"Ha," the driver snorted, "Only if you can hold your liquor. Tes doesn't like having to scrape people off his floor."

"Oh ho, was that a challenge?" Yoruichi asked as Soi Fon sighed and leaned her head against the window of the passenger side, "I'll take you on if it was,"

"Alright," Ggio grinned, locking eyes with the woman in the back seat via the rearview mirror, "You're on. But first we'll have to deal with Tesla. He's not going to be happy with the fact that we're about four and half weeks late on coming home…"

"Who's this 'Tesla'?" Kisuke muttered to Yoruichi, and the woman shrugged.

"Friend? Boyfriend? I don't know," she replied in an undertone.

Conversation continued boisterously in the car until Ggio made a sharp left into a small lot behind a run-down building that Soi Fon had come to recognize as home. The sign from when she had first been pulled through here on the back of Ggio's motorcycle was still there, but sun-faded and moisture-wilted so that the mouth on the angry emoticon ran like a widow's mascara.

The second the car stopped, Ggio yanked the keys out of the ignition and jumped out of the car; Soi Fon wondered what was going on for a moment, only to face-palm as she realized what he was doing.

The dark haired man threw himself at the black motorbike that had been propped against the cracked concrete wall, wrapping his arms around the thing like one who has been reunited with a favorite pet, or maybe a child.

"I missed you so much," he sniffed, patting the headlight on the bike, "You have no idea."

Yoruichi came up beside him and whistled, impressed.

"A Honda DN-01, huh? Nice… Been through a lot with this one? It's missing a mirror."

"You recognize it?" Ggio beamed, "Yeah, I've had it for almost four years, and couldn't afford to get the mirror fixed after it got taken off in a… parking accident by my roommate."

"And the bullets?"

"Yeah, well, you know. Adds to the feel of things I guess."

Yoruichi laughed as the other two got out of the Aston, Soi Fon standing on the stairs that would lead up to the door.

"You coming?" she asked to the pair who stood chattering about the bike.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Ggio called, spinning the keys to the house around on his forefinger as he came, "If you guys have earplugs, I suggest you put them in."

"What?"

The dark haired man slammed the door open and yelled inside, stepping forward nonchalantly into the darkened, wood floored room.

"Tes, I'm back! I know you're here, your car was out front!"

There was the sound of rapid, pounding feet, and they all watched as the tall, one eyed blonde slid into view; his socks, which had no purchase on the smooth wood, carried his feet out from under him, and he disappeared once more behind the door from. Ggio winced as he heard a heavy thud from the other side of the wall, and Tesla staggered back into their line of site. He looked absolutely livid, dressed in jeans and a white tank top that had four exclamation points lined up across the chest under his unzipped gray sweatshirt. His eye patch was coming unraveled bind his head, giving him a slightly mad look.

"Where," he began jerkily, storming forward, "have. You. _Been. _Do you have _any_ idea how worried I was? Is it too much to ask of you to _call_?! I thought you _died_!"

"Tesla, I-"

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it Ggio! _What would I have done if you _had_ been dead?!_ You probably were off having yourself a good time while I was just sitting around here pulling my hair out and scanning obituaries, _weren't you_?!"

Tesla prodded Ggio sharply in the shoulder, causing Soi Fon to bite her lip in sympathy pain as the dark haired man paled in shock and agony.

"Um, Tesla?" he said shakily, "Ow?"

The blonde looked at his hand, startled to see red there against his pale skin. He looked back up, narrowing his brown eyes at his friend.

"I thought I told you to _be careful_!" he snapped, reaching around and grabbing his shorter companion by the back of his neck and dragging him forward as he turned away to go back through the door at the end of the hall, "For _God's sake _Ggio, _every fucking time_, I can't trust you to go _anywhere_! You're going to get yourself _killed _one of these times, and I…"

"Are they gay?" Yoruichi asked Soi Fon, a sympathetic look in her eyes, lowering her voice so that only her friend could hear, "I'm sorry, it must really suck to like someone who doesn't swing your way."

The two up ahead, who had been arguing furiously a moment before suddenly halted and replied almost in unison.

"-I am many things, but I am not _gay_!" Ggio shouted, affronted.

"-I'll have you know that I am perfectly straight! What on earth would make you think I was gay?"

Soi Fon looked at him almost guiltily, almost a little bit disbelieving. The thought had definitely crossed her mind before that the blonde might have been a homosexual; Why else would he not be interested in the many females that flaunted themselves in his bar?

"Well Tes, I've never seen you bring a girl around. Not that I thought you were gay!" Ggio corrected hastily as Yoruichi and Kisuke (who was heavily laden with everyone's bags) stood watching the conversation like a three-way ping-pong match, "I just thought that you were… I don't know, maybe really, really unlucky? Or clueless?"

Ggio seemed to wither under the blonde's heated stare. Soi Fon almost smirked, looking at the pair of them go back and forth; she had never seen such a look of offense on Tesla's face before. He had always seemed so mild-mannered, but now, in a span of five minutes Soi Fon had witnessed the fact that he had a temper just as bad as Ggio himself.

"Just because I don't force my girlfriend's presence on other people doesn't mean she is nonexistent, Ggiovanni!" Tesla snapped.

"So you _do _have a girlfriend?" Ggio asked, looking surprised.

"I've had a girlfriend for almost six months, yes," the tall man answered huffily.

"Done anything with her yet?"

"That's none of your business!" Tesla cried, and Soi Fon really did smirk this time as a slight flush colored the man's cheeks, "Now come here and let me see your shoulder!"

"Not until you promise to bring her over for us to meet!" Ggio crowed laughingly, dancing out of reach.

"You-!" Tesla used his greater height to his advantage, grabbing his dark haired friend in a headlock and dragging him across the taproom and into the room that he used as an office to balance the funds of the bar.

"Well," Soi Fon said placidly, turning to look at the two guests who stood by the back door, choking back laughter, "Welcome. I guess for now we should take the stuff upstairs and-"

"Ow, what the hell Tes!"

"Sit still you bastard!"

"-And get at least Yoruichi set up in a room. I don't know where _you'll _be staying Kisuke, but I doubt it will be here," the woman finished over the loud bickering in the room over.

"Oh, no," Yoruichi's blonde companion laughed, "No I'll be going back to-"

"Tesla, what are you- Holy shit, are you _serious_?" Soi Fon turned around as Ggio's voice rose an octave in shock, "Come on man, that's inhuman, don't you even-"

_Ch-chack, Ch-chack-click_

There was a sudden, loud stream of profanity as Tesla walked back out of the room with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow, wiping blood off one hand on his pants, the other gripping a stapler. He continued to mutter furiously under his breath, slamming the stapler onto the bar and running his bloodied fingers under the sink.

Ggio came around the corner, shirtless and with smears of blood on his side, two thin, silvery pieces of metal holding his wound together where the stitches had come loose. Rather than saying anything, he simply ran, jumped over the bar, and ducked the unsuspecting Tesla's head under the stream of water in the sink basin, soaking his ruffled blonde hair.

Soi Fon sighed.

She was definitely home.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Sorry about how late this is guys! Finals week sort of killed my brain… in other news, Sungsun won the poll for Tesla's pairing and will be most likely introduced next week! This chapter is not really centered on anyone and is probably pretty sporadic considering it was written at about midnight…. Again, sorry about this. :l**

Homecoming… Almost

"A drinking contest?" Tesla asked several hours later as evening began to fall, a towel still hanging around his shoulders and his hair tousled from where he had tried to rub the tap water out of it. There were slight pink smears on the white cloth that marked where Ggio's blood had rubbed off from the blonde's fingers and onto the fabric, "Why the hell would you think I'd agree with that?"

"Three reasons," Ggio said with a smile, "One, as celebration of the fact that I came back alive, albeit slightly damaged and in a fucked up car."

"What did you say about the car?!"

"Two, my pride is at stake," the black haired man continued, his grin widening. He suddenly grabbed Tesla by the collar of his shirt and dragged him forward so that the two were nose to nose, "And three, my shoulder hurts like hell thanks to you, and the pain killers aren't doing shit."

"You're going to do what you want regardless of what I say," Tesla sighed as Ggio released him, "So go ahead, just don't drag me into your madness."

"We're good!" Ggio cried to Yoruichi, beaming, "Tes gave permission! You should join too Soi Fon!"

"I think I'll stay with Tesla," the woman replied, distaste obvious on her features. Ggio shrugged and turned to Kisuke.

"What about you Hitchhiker, you sticking around?" he asked, wiping away a thin runnel of blood that was starting to trickle from his shoulder.

"Ah, no," the blonde replied with a grin, "As I was explaining to Soi Fon, I called Tessai to come pick me up... he should be here quite soon actually. I'd rather not be inebriated the first time the kids see me after a couple of months."

"Your loss man," Ggio shrugged with only one shoulder before turning to Yoruichi, "Let's do this!"

Several minutes later, the two feline-like people sat down across from one another, ochre-amber gazes setting on one another as Tesla sat a couple of tables away with a calculator and a notebook for banking. Kisuke settled down to watch, and Soi Fon reluctantly joined him.

"Ready?" Yoruichi asked, "Keep track now…"

"Born ready," Ggio answered, then thought for a moment, "Actually that's not quite true, I took sixteen years to actually be able to drink."

"Aw, shaddup," the violet haired challenger laughed, popping open her first bottle of booze, "No technicalities tonight."

"If you insist," the black haired man grinned in return, taking his own bottle as he spoke.

…

"I said no, Ggio," Tesla said firmly, swaying a bit in his seat and fumbling for his reading glasses so he could actually get some work done, "Even though I specifically asked you not to involve me in this…"

"C'mmon Tes, don't be a pussy, just do it… and you're the one who gave in and started drinking anyways," his black haired friend laughed woozily, pushing the shot glass at the blonde.

"Fuck Ggio, I'm not… ugh… like _you_! A man can only handle so much alcohol!"

"Vega's right, take the shot Captain!" Yoruichi cheered, her own bottle in her hand. On the table top there were various empty alcohol containers due to the contest that had taken place between Ggio and the violet haired woman.

"Captain?" the blonde asked, confused.

"'Cause 'o the eye patch," the dark skinned woman laughed.

"Screw you," he replied in an even, if slightly slurred tone, downing the shot.

"What the hell is Soi Fon doing?" Ggio wondered, looking at the woman as she seemingly drew pictures on the table top with her finger, her head resting on her arms.

"Who knows, she's wasted," Yoruichi shrugged, "She hold's liquor like a baby."

"I'm fine!" Soi Fon protested a bit thickly, "I'm not _that _bad, I was just bored! You two are going to die of liver failure!"

"I'm with her," Tesla cried, "Thank God, someone sane… I have no idea why I even agreed to this!"

"Ehhh, well…" Ggio sighed, slumping low in his chair with a vacant grin in place, "At least my shoulder doesn't hurt any more, ya know?"

"I'm starting to get tempted to join in on this," Kisuke muttered, looking at his watch, "He said he'd come though, so…"

"Yeah man, I wouldn't suggest it," Ggio nodded sagely, raising his bottle to peer through the rounded glass at the rest of the room, "Doesn't do a kid good to see a father-figure all drunk and shit."

"Like you'd- hic- fuckin' know!" Soi Fon cried suddenly, slapping a hand on the table angrily before looking at Kisuke and leveling a finger at him, "You better not!"

"Alright, alright, I won't," the blonde laughed as Tesla started muttering to himself and scratching things off in his notepad, clearing his calculator to start over whatever he was working on. Ggio stared at Soi Fon, surprised by her outburst, but decided to leave it alone.

At that moment, there was a knock on the front door, which was locked as Tesla had closed the bar for the night due to Ggio's return. The black haired man in question stumbled upright out of his chair to get the door, the button up shirt he was wear open over his bare chest fluttering behind him. He pulled open the door and paused for a moment, then looked up into the face of a six and a half foot tall giant of a man with cornrows and a handlebar mustache. The man stared down at Ggio over the rims of his square glasses until the shorter of the pair cleared his throat.

"Uh, hey," the ochre eyed man greeted slowly, "You're… Tessai?"

"Jinta stop it, that hurts…" a very soft voice came suddenly.

"No way! It's not fair that you got to ride in the front seat!" a louder boy's voice snapped. The giant, who still had yet to answer Ggio, turned to look behind him and dragged a small red haired boy forward by the ear. A smaller girl with watery blue eyes and black pigtails sniffled and wrung the hem of her shirt, staring up at Ggio who gazed back down at her with just as much confusion as she was sending his way.

"Um…" she squeaked, "Is… is Mr. Urahara here?"

"Mr…. oh, you mean Kisuke. Yeah he's here," Ggio answered her, turning around and yelling down the hall, "Oy, Hitchhiker! Your ride is here, grab your shit and get out!"

"Language, my drunk, bleeding host, language….There are children here," the blonde reprimanded lightly as he entered into the hall.

"Bleeding?" Ggio wondered, looking at his shoulder where a thin line of blood had welled along the lips of his wound, "Oh, fuck…"

"You took your time, Tessai," Kisuke said coolly, staring up at the man who stood six inches taller than his own stature as the bespectacled giant pushed his glasses up his nose.

"You're one to talk," Tessai answered, "Almost three months since you've been gone. They missed you," he indicated the children.

"Hey boss," the redheaded boy grinned, pulling away from where Tessai held him and sticking his hands in the pockets of cargo pants.

"M-Mr. Urahara," the little girl squeaked from the threshold, tears welling in her eyes which she quickly wiped away with the long sleeves of her white shirt.

Kisuke knelt down on the floor and opened his arms, allowing the girl to run forward and wrap her arms around him in a tight hug, sobbing into his shoulder and he patted the top of her head.

"Sorry Ururu, Jinta" he murmured, "I missed you too."

"S'all right," the boy said, wiping his streaming nose on the sleeve of his jacket, "We had Carrot Top and the Midget to keep us company. Stray Dog Renji too…"

"You want a hug too?" the blonde asked, making room for the boy, who shook his head.

"No, hugs are for sissies! I'm- hey!"

Kisuke dragged the boy into his embrace, and despite his protesting Jinta didn't try to escape, he just hugged the man in return. Ggio watched all this go on and then winced as he felt something prod his shoulder, turning to see Tessai looking closely at the wound.

"Whoa, hey, step off!" the ochre eyed man cried, backpedaling a bit and almost spilling his drink, "That hurts you know!"

"I could patch it up a bit better," the tall man said, regaining his full height as he had had to bend down to even get on eye-level with Ggio, "Staples don't seem to be the most conventional way to do that."

"No, thank you, I've gone through enough shit today," Ggio answered quickly as Kisuke stood up. The man stuck out a hand for a handshake from Ggio, which the shorter man complied with.

"Well, thanks for springing me," the blonde smiled, "No doubt I'll I have to lay a bit lower than usual, but it's better than nothing. I'll make sure I reimburse you somehow."

"I hope you weren't planning on leaving without saying goodbye to your cellmate?" Yoruichi asked, coming up behind Ggio with a smirk, "And you better come visit, you hear?"

"Of course I'll come visit!" he said with a melodramatic look of hurt, "Why would you think any different?"

"You have the air of a wanderer," Yoruichi said more seriously, leaning forward and kissing Kisuke on the cheek, "Just make sure if you go wandering I get a forwarding address, alright?"

"I don't think I'm going anywhere soon," the man smirked as Jinta made gagging motions in the background and Ururu blushed furiously, "But sure thing."

"Yeah this is great and all," Ggio broke in, "But I'm going to go back to the taproom, I'm apparently not needed here."

"I'll be back in a bit," Yoruichi winked, "Don't be running out on my challenge now!"

The black haired man laughed and rambled his way back to where Tesla and Soi Fon were sitting, dropping himself beside the sleepy woman and looking across at his friend. Tesla glanced up and went immediately back to his work, but too late; Ggio had seen the look in his eyes.

"What's up?" the black haired man wondered, leaning forward more alertly, "You've got something on your mind."

"No I don't," Tesla answered too quickly, attempting to correct himself, "I mean, what would give you that idea?"

"Tes, we've been together for almost twelve years, I know when something's bugging you. Spill."

Soi Fon looked up drowsily to watch the exchange, curious. She had noticed that Tesla had been fidgety, but had passed it off as concern for Ggio and maybe the aftereffects of weeks of stress, but….

"Ggio… look, it's just…. well there's no easy way to say this…"

"What?"

"Um…" the blonde swallowed and began to fiddle with one of the strings holding his eye patch in place, "Someone got to Yylfordt, Findorr and Di Roy."

There was a pause, and Soi Fon's fogged mind took a minute to absorb this information. As it did so, her heart dropped a few inches in her chest; Ggio seemed frozen, staring at a spot on the table before he spoke again.

"What do you mean, 'got to'?" the feline man asked without moving.

"They… they were found in a warehouse on the outskirts of town and it looked like they'd been killed execution… style," the blonde finished slowly, watching as Ggio dropped his head onto his hands.

"Fuck, and Szayel didn't tell me…" the black haired man growled, "All that for just having contact with us, huh?"

"Seems so,"

"Agh, _dammit_!" Ggio stood so quickly his chair flew backward and almost tipped over, buttoning up his shirt and snatching up his jacket.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Tesla queried, an edge in his voice as he grabbed Ggio's wrist, "This isn't our fault. There was nothing either you or I could have done to prevent this!"

"I don't know where I'm going," Ggio said, suddenly sounding tired as opposed to his furious energy from the second before, "I just… I'm gonna go visit someone."

"Oh," Tesla dropped Ggio's arm, sounding almost angry as the black haired man went back to the hall, "I see. Going to forget your problems in the company of a woman."

Soi Fon held her breath; the alcohol was really playing havoc with her brain, she thought… why the hell would it concern her who Ggio spent his time with? For some reason the thought of him with another woman was constricting her chest and giving her the _strangest _urge to run up and kick him between the legs.

Ggio, who had frozen on the threshold of the back door at Tesla's cutting words, turned around.

"_Actually_," he said scathingly, "I was going to go talk to your sister."

Tesla looked like he had been punched in the stomach, mouthing soundlessly as he tried to find words to express his feelings on the subject.

"You knew where she was?" he finally got out.

"Of course," Ggio snorted, "As if I'd let Menoly get anywhere without my knowledge. I've known where she's been since the day she's left, had phone calls with her about once a month and even sent her checks to help her pay her bills."

"You _knew _where she was… and you didn't tell me?" Tesla didn't even sound upset, just hurt and shocked.

"If I'd said anything to you, you would have had gone after her."

"Well if that's the case what are you going to talk to her about now?!"

"I'm going to bring her home," Ggio said flatly, "If they've started offing people associated with us, Menoly isn't going to be able to defend herself."

Ggio turned back and stepped outside, the cold air fogging his breath as he spoke.

"Aizen is no gentleman. He won't play fair and he won't leave her alone just because she never had any real involvement."

_Then what,_ Soi Fon wondered with the smallest beginnings of apprehension tugging at the back of her mind, _does that mean for Yoruichi and I? _


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Glory of glories, I actually finished this chapter on TIME! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year as well!**

Captain and Snake

The music at the club was almost overwhelming, the base pounding louder than a heartbeat in the ears of the people in the building. The smell of alcohol and company mingled into the heady scent of a party as the sounds of laughter and chatter were nearly drowned by the vibrating speakers that spewed tunes out over the room.

Menoly however, was standing at the door of her apartment, stubbornly resisting her friend Loly's attempt to drag her out. The blonde was dressed in a dark red v-neck cut shirt, a choker that she had been given by her brother hooked around her throat, her hands buried in the pockets of her baggy jeans and her bare toes wriggling as she avoided her brunette friend's hard stare.

"Come _on_," Loly snapped, stamping her high-heel clad foot, standing in the apartment halls in a very thin, low cut dress with an excessively short skirt despite the temperature outside, "Don't be such a bitch Menoly! You expect me to go clubbing alone? If I bring you, then at least the guys I talk to will have someone to compare me with!"

"But Loly, I… I don't really want to go, I'm expecting company…" the blonde replied uneasily, scratching her cheek just below where he eye patch settled over what she knew to be a gaping hole, "If I leave home and he comes by, then…"

"Fine," the black haired woman sniffed angrily, "I see how it is. Even though I'm your only friend you're still so cruel to me. This is why you're always alone, you're so selfish!"

"No, Loly, it's just that-!" Menoly started, her short blonde hair obscuring one side of her face as she stepped forward to stop her friend. She reached for Loly's wrist only to see the woman go stumbling across the hall as someone planted a hand in her heavily made-up face.

"Budge over short stuff," a very familiar male voice slurred ever-so-slightly as the figure Menoly had been expecting stepped into view.

"Ggio!" the blonde grinned happily, temporarily forgetting Loly as she looked at her adopted older brother; he was hardly any taller than she, and he hadn't changed since the day she left it seemed. A bit paler, yes, and he looked stressed and reeked of alcohol, but his same lilting half-smile was in place, his typical braid still there, his warm ochre gaze still welcoming her forward. She took the invitation and threw herself at him in a tight hug.

"Good to see you too Menoly," the feline man laughed a little bit breathlessly as the young woman crushed his ribs, tousling her short blonde hair. She was so reminiscent of Tesla it wasn't even funny.

"What are you doing here? Not that I don't like your visiting, but your call was so sudden that I- let me grab my tennis shoes and bag and then… Ooh, I need to call someone to feed the fish, and…" the blonde burst out before falling silent, "Sorry. I'll be right back."

"Alright," Ggio smiled gently, his eyes softening as he watched his younger sister bolt back inside.

"Hey asshole!" the brunette girl from earlier shouted, picking herself up from where she had fallen before, "Who the hell do you think you are, coming over here and pushing me out of the way?"

"Huh?" Ggio turned and looked at her, "Oh, sorry, it's just that I didn't recognize that you were a person under all that make-up."

"Excuse me?" Loly shrieked, "Listen here bastard, I don't- are you _drunk?_"

"Mm… yeah, maybe a bit. And you asked who I thought I was, right? Name's Ggiovanni, I'm one of Menoly's brothers," Ggio answered smoothly, "You were kind of pissing me off, pushing her around the way you were, so… I gave you a taste of your own medicine so to speak."

"Sorry," the blonde woman in question panted as she came back to the door in high tops and with a back pack slung over her shoulder, "I'm ready now."

"_Fine!_" Loly screamed suddenly, "I see how it _is _Menoly! I hope you die, bitch!"

With that, the dark haired woman flipped the pair standing in the doorway her middle finger and stomped off down the apartment stairs, almost tripping in her heels which caused Ggio to have to muffle a laugh behind his hand.

"What the hell was that?" he snorted in amusement, "I mean for fuck's sake, why are you _friends _with _that_?"

Menoly shrugged and gave a little half smile.

"Go easy on her Ggio-nii, she's getting over a bad relationship," the blonde replied.

"May God rest the poor soul who had anything to do with her," the ochre eyed man said with mock solemnity, pressing a hand over his heart, "In any case, if you're ready, let's go, yeah? Your brother has been worried sick since you left, and it's probably not helping that I left on bad terms with him."

"Do you think he can stand to wait a couple more hours?" Menoly asked, wrinkling her brow and swinging her backpack down so that it dangled from her hand rather than from her shoulder.

"Huh? Why?"

"Um… well, you're… You're a bit…. Tipsy, Ggio-nii. You know how I feel about you driving like this. Come inside and stay until you sober up a bit… I'll make coffee and you can tell me why you're coming to get me, your phone call was a bit rushed. Did you even bring a helmet?"

"Nope," Ggio answered easily, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"'Nope' what?"

"I didn't bring a helmet," the dark haired man grinned sheepishly.

"You're going to _die _one of these times!" Menoly began to lecture, "I know it's not a problem for you, you don't fear death, but all the same! It's _dangerous_ to drive drunk, in the dark, without proper protection!"

"Well when you put it that way… you always were the voice of reason," Ggio sighed, "You sound so much like Tesla, how could I possibly force you to get on my bike with a drunkard?"

"Ggio..."

"Alright, alright, let me in already, it's fuckin' cold," Ggio said with good-natured irritation, "It won't kill Tesla and Soi Fon to wait for a bit, they don't even know where we are anyways…"

Menoly closed the door with a smile of her own in place as Ggio slid his boots off and stood them up on the mat.

"So tell me, Ggio-nii…. What's so urgent that I need to come home?"

….

Soi Fon knew that the exchange before Ggio left had shaken up Tesla- badly. The blonde man had walked over to one of the tables, sat down, and simply stared at his trembling fingers for a while. Now he was sitting with his face buried in his hands, and even as she watched he allowed his head to fall forward further, running his hands through his honey-blonde hair.

"He knew," the bartender said to no one in particular. Yoruichi, who had come back into the room at the sound of the slamming door as Ggio had left looked up from where she had been engaged in stacking bottles, apparently having no intention of going to bed, "Son of a bitch knew, and didn't say anything."

"Tesla, I'm sure Ggio…" Soi Fon began, but what could she say? She didn't know anything of Ggio's intentions with his withholding of the truth; however, knowing him, he… "He probably thought it was what was best for the both of you."

"Mm," Tesla agreed after a moment of relapsed silence, biting his lip, "Probably, since it would have kept Menoly out of the way of the Espada, I mean, looked what happened to Yylfordt and his group…. It's just…."

The man sighed, falling quiet again before continuing his thought.

"I shouldn't have told him about what happened to the other three so… abruptly. Now he's been gone for a while, what if he crashed, or got arrested, or maybe…."

"Cool it Captain," Yoruichi laughed almost nervously, "You're going to give yourself ulcers."

Tesla smiled weakly, looking pale and running his hand through his hair again as was his habit.

"I'm um… gonna go make a phone call. Be right back, and Ms. Yoruichi, I hope that you don't plan on using those bottles to play carnival games."

"Aha! Captain does have a sense of humor!" Yoruichi gasped theatrically before chuckling, "Don't worry about it, I'm just doing this for something to do."

After a minute or so the two women in the taproom could hear Tesla's voice drifting through the open door.

"Hey," he started, "I know you're busy and you already said you- oh, really?" his voice suddenly shifted in intonation, becoming much less stressed, "Great! See you in a few minutes then!"

Tesla reentered the room with a definite and previously absent spring in his step.

"What was that?" Soi Fon asked him, making an effort to move her tongue in the way it was supposed to go. She had no idea _why _she had let Ggio persuade her to drink… she shook her head a little bit blearily to try and clear the fog in her thoughts.

"Oh, just… we'll be having company in about five minutes. My girlfriend that you were all so eager to meet," he clarified upon receiving to blank, confused stares. The women exchanged glance, Soi Fon narrowing her eyes and Yoruichi starting to laugh, "What?"

"Your girlfriend is coming over, and you have two drunk women sitting in what could be considered your living room," Yoruichi pointed out.

"Ugh, the _one _time I drink and you invite someone over," Soi Fon grumbled, swinging her braids over her shoulder and straightening her shirt, "Nice, Tesla."

"Sorry, sorry," the blonde soothed ineffectively as he picked up empty bottles and began carrying them to the kitchen to dump into the sink for the time being, "But I figured that if Ggio ends up not coming home again I wouldn't want to subject you two to my ensuing panic-attack."

"How thoughtful," the shorter of the two women sighed, rolling her eyes; there was a knock at the door and the trio in the taproom all looked in that direction, "I thought you said we had five minutes!"

"Give or take a few," Tesla winced at Soi Fon's glare as he walked to the door.

Upon opening the door, Tesla revealed a short, slight woman of unusual beauty. Soi Fon only stared at the woman, taking in her appearance as Tesla exchanged words with her, bending down to kiss her as way of greeting. She could have been hardly more than a hundred pounds, dark, shimmering green hair cascading down nearly to her waist, her straight-cut bangs pinned with a barrette above pale eyes. Three pink spots, similar in effect to the green mark on Tesla's face, trailed below her right eye as the woman held up on hand, covered by the overlong sleeve of her hooded coat, to stifle a laugh.

"I know you said you couldn't come because of work, so I feel a bit bad about having you drive over here…" Tesla said apologetically, furrowing his eyebrows with worry.

"Not at all," the woman answered softly, "Lady Harribel had to go and get Emilou and Milarose out of a holding cell… an arrest for disorderly conduct. If they could just cease their behavior as apes and quit fighting in public, this wouldn't happen but…"

Soi Fon looked up sharply at the mention of the name Harribel… one the Espada; Tesla met her gaze and shook his head minimally, telling her to say nothing.

"Who are these?" the woman asked, looking around Tesla.

"Oh, um," the blonde looked surprised, "Sungsun, these are Ms. Yoruichi and Ms. Soi Fon, they're staying in the flat overhead for the time being…"

"Hello," the woman, Sungsun, greeted quietly, "I am Sungsun Cyan, pleased to make your acquaintance. But… is there not a man who lives here as well?"

"Oh, yeah, Ggiovanni, but… he's out right now," Tesla lied towards the end.

"Oh, I see," the woman murmured, "I would have assumed that everyone was at home, since there are three vehicles out front."

"Three?" Tesla wondered as Yoruichi sipped from a bottle she had kept, watching the exchange.

"Yes," Sungsun replied, "Your car, then a black one with quite a lot of paint missing off the side and a large blood stain in the front seat, and then a motorcycle. Is the motorcycle not yours? There were two people arguing next to it, maybe they were only lost…"

"No, no," Tesla said hurriedly, stepping back toward the door, "That black bike definitely belongs here…"

"Well, then…" the woman began, stopping as Tesla threw the door open. Sungsun looked toward Soi Fon helplessly, and the black haired woman only shrugged, ignoring Yoruichi's corresponding snicker.

"_GGIO!_" Tesla bellowed out the open door, obviously looking to call the dark haired man back inside but sounding decidedly less upset than before.

"Ow! For fuck's sake Tes, I'm right here! You don't need to go blowing my eardrums out!"

"Ggio?" Tesla wondered, looking directly down and to the right where the feline man had been coming around the railing to climb up the stairs to the porch.

"No, I'm the fucking Easter Bunny come six months early," the man said sarcastically, obviously still at least a little bit angry with his blonde roommate.

"You're okay! I thought for sure you'd gotten pulled over or lost or something!"

"Woulda been back a couple hours earlier, but thanks to your ingrained family habit about worrying over everything I ended up staying in Menoly's kitchen for a bit," Ggio replied, pushing past his blonde friend to get inside, his breath still hanging in a pale cloud from the chill air outside. A second person trailed along in Ggio's wake as she fixed her eye patch, a black backpack hanging from her shoulders, blonde hair windswept and face pale.

"Ggio-nii, I r-really don't think such speed was n-necessary," the young woman said, teeth chattering slightly from the cold as she came up on the porch. She halted, freezing at the sight of Tesla's midriff and looked slowly up at his face.

Soi Fon was astounded by the similarities between the two siblings; there was nearly no difference between the two faces aside from gender and the lack of tattoo across Menoly's cheek. The two were even missing eyes on the same side of their faces.

"E-evening, Tes," she whispered, looking a bit frightened as if trying to gauge his reaction. Tesla made a swift movement, and the young woman flinched only to find herself enveloped in a tight hug.

"Menoly! Thank God," Tesla choked, "Thank God, thank God…"

"Hey, come on, there's no need for this…" the girl laughed lightly despite the tears that glittered in her good eye at the display of affection.

"You did the same thing to me!" Ggio pointed out disbelievingly, throwing his hands in the air, "I swear, you two are the same person!"

"_You_ certainly took your time," Soi Fon huffed, coming to stand at Ggio's side, "Look who stopped over while you were gone."

The dark haired woman thumbed over her shoulder at Sungsun, who waved at Ggio from where she had been partaking in small talk with Yoruichi as the two siblings by the door bantered back and forth. Ggio waved back slowly, furrowing his brow.

"Why the hell is Sungsun here?" he muttered out of the side of his mouth to Soi Fon.

"You know her?" Soi Fon asked, mildly confused; then she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "She's Tesla's _girlfriend_."

Ggio whipped around with an almost comic look of shock before stalking over to the woman and drawing himself to his full and rather unimpressive height, slapping the woman on the shoulder with a wide grin.

"Cyan you little devil, why didn't you tell me you were dating Tes?"

"_You _are Tesla's roommate?" the woman looked just as surprised as Ggio had a moment before.

"Yup! And here I was thinking I'd have to get acclimated to some bitch hanging around here… good to know it's _you_ and not someone else…I was gonna have a heart attack for a moment there, thought you were here on business…." The black haired man laughed, perhaps a little bit uneasily.

"Yes, well, we both know the only reason I'm still with the Espada is for Lady Harribel," Sungsun smiled slightly in return.

"Yeah, well…"

"Wait, you two _know_ each other?" Soi Fon broke in suddenly.

"Yeah," Ggio answered in an off-hand sort of tone, "We used to work together."

"I see," Soi Fon muttered, then louder, "But if Tesla's been dating you for so long, why did the two of you never meet the other?"

"Tesla and I have to be rather careful with our meetings due to our…. Occupations," Sungsun explained, "So when we spend time together we don't often speak intimately about our lives, remaining on surface topics, unless we are someplace that we know to be safe, where someone can't tail us…. Just a precaution, but a necessary one, yes?"

Tesla walked back over to the group, wiping his face with his sleeve with Menoly clutching his other hand as if her life depended on it.

"Well," Tesla sniffed, "I suppose we should get Menoly and Ms. Yoruichi accustomed to the house, no?"

"Well, since Ggiovanni has returned," Sungsun said, "And you seem rather more at ease, I think I shall leave you to get your household in order?"

"You're not staying?" Menoly asked, looking a little bit crestfallen.

"No, no," the pale woman laughed lightly, "I must return to Lady Harribel."

"Sorry for calling you out here like this," Tesla said sheepishly, "It's just…."

"It's fine," Sungsun soothed as she opened the door, "You can call me for anything, Tesla. Good night."

There was a pause after the woman shut the door.

"You," Ggio began, looking at Tesla with what bordered on awe, "have the strangest luck of anyone I've ever met."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"How did _you _get someone like _her_? I don't understand! You're just so… so…. _Tesla_!" the ochre eyed man cried.

"_And what is that supposed to mean_?"

"Hey so, are we going to 'get our household in order' or what, boys?" Yoruichi asked amid the ruckus. There was only the slightest of pauses between the bickering men in which they glanced at the violet haired woman before Ggio began his ribbing again. Soi Fon sighed.

"I said it before," Yoruichi said, beginning to laugh, "But you sure know how to pick 'em, Soi! This place is great!"

"I'm glad _you_ think so…" Soi Fon muttered, but she knew that saying such a thing was a betrayal of how she really felt.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Hello everyone! So… I'm just sending a shout-out to my wonderful spell-checker, Yellowmellowonthewall: Can't wait to see you at school on Monday! :P**

** Also I wanted to thank everyone for their reviews, they make me feel so loved ;_;**

**I'll shut up now and let you read the chapter then, shall I? ;)**

Not Feelin' the Love

Ggio Vega sat staring blankly up at the ceiling, ochre eyes hooded as he sank deeper into his sullen, morbid thoughts, turning Tesla's conversation with him. It had taken place only moments ago, night having fallen heavily and early morning creeping up now; Tesla had wanted to ensure that they wouldn't be interrupted, so he had waited until past midnight to hold the grim meeting.

It was several days past Menoly's return and everyone had been settled into separate rooms. The blonde woman's solicitous personality had overridden protests by the guests as she had given up her room for Yoruichi; Tesla's younger sister roomed with her sibling instead, claiming that she had missed him and didn't mind much sleeping on his floor or even sharing a bed if it came to it. Yoruichi had only shaken her head, realizing that arguing was futile. The arrangement that had been settled on left Ggio and Soi Fon in their usual rooms, Yoruichi at the end of the hall and the blonde siblings in the room beside the stairs.

Ggio sighed through his nose and took another sip from the bottle he held. He didn't intend on getting drunk tonight, he had too much to think about, too much resting on him to even consider the idea.

_"Aizen knows,_" Tesla had said, _"He knows and he's none too happy with us. We're going to have to tread lightly from now on."_

_ "What do you mean _he knows_," _Ggio had asked him, narrowing his eyes, the gold glittering harshly in the half-light of the dim kitchen, _"Of course he knows about the jewels, he's _Aizen._"_

_ "He knows about the jewels, yes, but I was talking about something else,_" Tesla had muttered roughly in reply, looking upset, _"He knows about the prison too; about Yoruichi, about Soi Fon_, _about Menoly's move, and about you_._"_

Ggio had simply stared at him for a moment.

_"He'll play on your weaknesses," _the blonde man had murmured as he left the kitchen_, "Don't draw attention. Take care of yourself, and take care of her too."_

_ "What are you talking about, why should the Little Bee be a weakne-"_

_ "Don't be stupid Ggio, even a blind man could see you love her," _Tesla had laughed almost humorlessly, _"Just be careful. You're probably tired of hearing that, but I mean it. Be careful."_

Ggio sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes, wondering if it was worth it to go up to his room. There was only a few hours left till day light at this point, and it was likely he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he tried.

Did he like her? Hell yeah he did.

But did he _love_ her?

He wondered.

He placed his bottle on the table listlessly and stood, pushing his chair gently under the table. He'd go upstairs, if only to think within the confines of his own space.

….

Soi Fon lay still under the covers, eyes wide and sleepless as she listened to the scrape of a chair from downstairs. She wasn't the only one awake and she knew it; she had heard Tesla's voice as a low rumble, muffled by walls, and a quieter reply that only could have been Ggio. She wondered what they were talking about so late- no, early now she supposed, but she hadn't wanted to be nosy, so she had stayed in her room.

She had been awake for hours, her nightmare drifting in her head like an oily fog, rank and unwanted but there all the same, a fog that smelled like an alcohol mist and carried her father's voice…

_"… little bitch come out and see your father, come out and take what's coming to you, you ungrateful runt…"_

She could now hear the creaking of the wooden stairs over the echo of her dream as Ggio- it had to be him, she had heard Tesla go back to his room almost half an hour before- ascended to the second floor, most likely with the intent of going to sleep. He'll probably be in bed till noon, she thought disparagingly, the lazy ass.

She could hear his footsteps now and she blinked in the pitch black of the room; the only light came from the strip under the door, her blinds closed against the streetlights outside. She watched the pattern of shadows change under the door as Ggio walked slowly, almost ponderously… she wondered if he had something on his mind.

He probably did, she realized, most likely something that had to do with his conversation with Tesla…. Had he been drinking again? She figured he had, knowing his pattern of behavior.

She started as her door creaked open, almost reflexively pressing herself into her mattress to appear smaller. It was an action learned in her childhood, a time when she hadn't been able to hide from her father, because it was too late, too late to run and he would-

She could see Ggio's silhouette vaguely outlined in the doorframe and her childhood terror began to fade; he looked tired, his shoulders drooping and his eyes closed as he rubbed then, but… what the hell was he doing in her room?

He stumbled across the wooden floor, unable to see in the sudden dark, and veritably _threw _himself into her bed causing the mattress springs to groan with the sudden weight. She squeaked in surprise at his proximity; he smelled like alcohol… it was expected, but she felt her face twist into an expression of fear and revulsion as he nightmare crawled to the front of her mind; she could hear _him _again, the clatter as he threw open cupboards looking for her, her own breathing and heartbeat loud in her ears.

"Oh," Ggio gasped, rolling over to stare at her with realization, "Oh, shit, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention and- Soi Fon?"

He stared at her and she glared back, hatred in her eyes.

"Get out," she growled.

"Y-yeah," he stammered, hurt flashing in his eyes, muttering another apology as he slipped out with his head bowed, "Sorry."

Soi Fon squeezed her eyes shut to drive the dream and the panic away but she couldn't stop a tear from dampening her pillow. She thought of Ggio, summoning up an image of his smile; his warm ochre gaze had driven away her fear once before, why not again?

But now all she could see was the injured look on his face, the pain in his eyes as he left… and she was sorry.

….

Ggio stood in the hall, stunned.

He'd _never_ seen her look at him like that. Never. Not even when he had shouted at her on the drive back from the prison.

It had been a raw, bare hatred that smoldered in her silver gaze, disgust so strong in her eyes that it had physically burned him.

Did he love her?

Perhaps he'd been deluding himself. He'd thought that they were friends at least. Hadn't they shared laughter, danger, sorrow together? Hadn't they built some level of trust?

No, he realized, probably not to her. She'd told him at the beginning that what they had was a contracted deal- she didn't intend to take it farther. She was going to leave as soon as she finished her end and helped him get the gems.

He gave a harsh snort of humorless laughter, choking back the sound to avoid waking anyone else.

Just his fucking luck, huh?

Did he love her?

"Ggio?" a voice wondered drowsily, causing the dark haired man to whip his head around to stare in the direction it had come from. A tousled blonde head caught his eye down the hall, a form the he recognized to be Menoly in her brother's pajamas four sizes too big for her, "Is something wrong?

"Go back to sleep Menoly," he said tiredly, his hard amusement draining out of him to be replaced by a listless, careless apathy, "I'm fine."

"Liar," the young woman yawned, rubbing her knuckles into her one eye to get the sleep out.

"Look Menoly, there's not anything you could do about it anyway, so-"

"We'll see," the blonde said, walking forward and grabbing his wrist, "You don't know if there's something I could do or not unless you give me a shot."

Ggio sighed with exasperation as Menoly looked at him evenly.

"Fine, come on then, it's no good talking out here," the ochre-eyed man said, leading his adopted sibling to his room and closing the door behind them. He flipped the light on and stepped over a pile of dirty laundry before getting up on his bed to sit Indian style, motioning for the blonde to get up beside him. Once they were settled he looked at her full in the face, searching her features for who-knew-what.

"Tell me what's wrong," she pleaded, ignoring his unwilling gaze, "Please Ggio-nii… you've been like this since we were kids, it's okay to ask for help now and then you know."

"I _know_," he gritted, "But not from you. My problems aren't something that someone like you should have to deal with."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Menoly asked, almost affronted.

"It means that I'm an asshole and you're not, therefore whatever shit I get myself into should be mind to deal with, dear little sister," he answered more calmly.

"Ooh stop it," Menoly huffed, "Just tell me what's bothering you already, I feel like you don't trust me when you do stuff like this!"

"I do trust you, it's just…" Ggio flopped back onto the bed, spreading his arms like he was a snow angle atop the black sheets that covered the mattress. His gaze found the gold-stitch tiger on the black wall-scroll as he searched the room from upside down on the bed, "What am I supposed to do Menoly? There isn't much I _can _do."

"What do you mean what are you supposed to do?" Menoly asked, "You're not giving me much to go on here, Ggio-nii."

"Menoly… what would you do if the person you… may or may not be in love with… looked at you like you were the most disgusting thing they'd ever seen?"

But _did he love her_?

"Well… I suppose it would depend on the circumstance," the blonde answered carefully.

"She hates me. I'm sure of it."

"This is about Soi Fon, isn't it?"

Ggio sat up and stared at her.

"No."

"You're a lair, yes it is,"

"Fuck."

"Do you really?" Menoly asked, almost in awe, "Love her I mean?" She'd seen Ggio in all kinds of relationships, mostly one-times flings, but he had never, _never_ claimed to love someone who was outside of their family circle. He'd told Menoly that he loved her, but she was his younger sister… this was entirely different. She could see the agony in his gaze as he looked at her, dark smudges from lack of sleep under his eyes.

_Well that's the million dollar question tonight, isn't it_? the darker part of Ggio's mind snarled at him, _Who even gives a fuck?_

"Maybe. I don't know?" Menoly stared at him and he dropped his gaze, "Yes. Yes I love her."

It was the first time he'd admitted it to anyone, maybe even to himself. But how long? For how long had he been pinning that feeling down and silencing it for the sake of simplicity? Maybe since the first run at the prison, maybe before, he didn't know. Did it matter?

"What makes you think she hates you?" Menoly wondered, sounding surprised, though if it was because of his confession or because of his claim of Soi Fon's feelings against him he wasn't sure.

"I accidently crawled into her bed instead of mine- it was dark and I was tired, thinking and not really paying much attention- and the way she _looked _at me… Menoly I don't even think I can describe the way she was looking at me. Like I shouldn't have ever been born, like she wanted me to die but didn't even think I was worth the effort of killing."

"Well it was dark, like you said, don't you think maybe you just-"

"I didn't see her wrong Menoly."

"Well I can't vouch for that, but have you seen how she looks at you when she thinks no one's looking?"

Ggio only stared at the younger woman blankly.

"You really are an idiot," the woman sighed, "Maybe this is just because you're male… Ggio she doesn't hate you."

"But-"

"If anything I think it's quite the opposite. I can't help you any more than that, but you should talk to her when you can… while I'm here though, I want to know what you and my brother were talking about this late though," the blonde demanded, shifting her position on the bed.

"Menoly, I really don't think that this is the time for that," Ggio said uneasily, startled by the sudden jump in topics.

_She doesn't hate you…. Quite the opposite_

What was _that _supposed to mean?

_Who gives a fuck? _That black hearted part of him asked again, more faintly.

"If I don't get it out of you now I never will," the blonde told him firmly, "What were you two talking about?"

"It was just for work, really nothing…"

"Liar,"

"Fuck Menoly, how can you _do _that?!" Ggio cried, looking mildly annoyed.

"I've known you since I was eight, you think I don't know when you're telling the truth?"

"Ugh… Tes is gonna kill me for telling you, you know?"

"I'll make sure you get a good funeral, don't worry," she laughed as he began to twist the end of his braid between his fingers, debating whether he would actually speak.

"Fine, if you really want to know that bad," the dark haired man sighed at last, "Aizen's getting close to making his move. If anything we've forced his hand. I told you that when I came to pick you up."

"But that's not all, is it?"

"No. Whatever the bastard wanted from Ulquiorra's girl, he didn't get, but he's found other people who know what he needs and they come much cheaper than that redhead he had before."

"So what's the problem?"

"Do you know what Aizen intends to do to this place?" Ggio asked her carefully, watching her face as she shook her head no, "Alright then. Tell me first, why do people steal, Menoly?"

"To survive? We did,"

"That's the most base of reasons, but what does one gain through thievery? Specifically," he clarified. It was true, they had stolen to survive, but those days were long gone. They weren't just street rats anymore, but it would have been almost better if they were.

"For money, I guess," the blonde girl answered slowly, scratching her head.

"That's right. Someone once said that love makes the world go 'round, but they must'a had their head up their ass, because what makes the world work isn't love," Ggio leaned forward and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, "It's money. With money you can do anything you want; you can buy friends, freedom, supplies- everything is right there at your fingertips. With the right amount, you could even buy love."

"Where are you going with this Ggio? If you're trying to put me off the original question it's not working,"

"We're getting there," Ggio sighed, rolling off his bed and pulling his shirt off, digging through his bureau drawer to find something suitable for sleeping in, "As you must know, Aizen has a shit-ton of money. Guy's practically swimming in it."

"Well yeah," Menoly snorted, "He runs the mafia. He gets what he wants."

"Exactly. But there's one thing he wants but doesn't have yet. He's working on it, getting close, but he doesn't have it yet,"

"What?"

"He wants to play God," Ggio said simply, "He'll start by destroying everything here- I'm not sure how he intends to do it, just that he needs the money he would get from selling the treasure in the museum- but he'll destroy everything and build this place to fit his own needs. A whole _region_ of people who are at his beck and call, what might as well be a whole _world_ built solely by his influence."

"But… why? How? When you say he wants to destroy this place, you mean the people too?"

"Cause he's a nutcase I guess, and I don't know how. I figure maybe something that could be easily covered up- a natural gas leak under the city, a home-grown terrorist group, it could be anything. And yeah Menoly, he means to get the people. He _especially_ means to get the people, whether that means he recruits them or kills them, it's all the same in his mind."

Silence fell in the room as Ggio tugged on a white undershirt and removed his belt to be more comfortable; Menoly simply stared at him, not quite disbelieving, but scared. The black haired man picked up a pack of cards that had been sitting on his cluttered desk and tossed them to the girl sitting in her brother's pajamas with a slight smirk on his face.

"Might as well play somethin', have a little fun…. Deal for Speed, or War or whatever you want but you and I both know we're not sleeping,"

Menoly returned his half-smile, but weakly, flipping over the top card on the red-backed deck to reveal the ace of spades.

…

"Tousen, I've noticed something," a man said from where he lounged in a large, white chair at the head of a long table, a teacup on a saucer steaming before him, fogging the pair of glasses that sat on the table beside it.

"What would that be?" the blind, dark skinned man asked lowly, sitting a few chairs away from the only other man in the room, the man who watched him with eyes so cold and dark he could feel the gaze on his skin despite his sightlessness.

"Well… when people cheat at a game, it's considered bad- wicked even,"

"Yes,"

"But when one doesn't follow the mundane rules of reality, they are considered either a madman or a forward thinker,"

"Yes,"

"So which am I, Tousen, wicked, mad, or forward thinking?"

"Well now, Lord Aizen… can't it be said that you are a little bit of all three?" a new voice asked, the voice of a tall foxfaced man with silver hair and narrow eyes, as he entered the room.

The man at the other end of the table laughed.

"I suppose that's true, Gin," Aizen smiled, running one hand through his hair, "Let's cheat the world of everything it thought it ever knew, shall we?"


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Hello mates… sorry for the EXTREME lateness of this chapter, but I decided to take a snow day, so on Saturday my brothers and I went sledding and stuffed snow down the back of each others' jackets and let my dog role around in the stuff until he looked like he'd been hit with a sack of flour. So, to compensate, this chapter is fairly lengthy… or maybe it just seemed that way. Regardless, I apologize, and I hope you enjoy this. :)**

What's Not to Love?

He was avoiding her.

Not in a physical way, no, in that regard he went about business as normal, but now his gaze was… guarded. His words were more careful, almost formal, and he was avoiding her eyes. Even as she watched, he kept his eyes firmly in his magazine and took a sip of coffee despite the fact that on a normal morning he would glance up and smirk at her before going back to his reading. He looked exhausted, as did Tesla.

Apparently Soi Fon wasn't the only one who'd noticed either.

"What's up with him?" Yoruichi asked, a cigarette smoldering between her fingers as she sat down across from her friend. Menoly had drifted downstairs, in a sweater, skirt, and knee-high boots, also looking very tired, a pack of playing cards in her pocket, "He looks like someone smacked him upside the head for no good reason and then pissed in his coffee when he wasn't lookin',"

"Don't get ash on my floors," Tesla called from the kitchen, and Yoruichi shooed him away with a vague answer of, "Yeah yeah Cap'n,"

"How should I know why he has his mood swings?" Soi Fon said, a little bit coldly, turning her own gaze back to her breakfast, if only to avoid the two sets of ochre eyes that had flicked up to look at her; she had cut her sights away as quickly as she could to avoid the hurt look in Ggio's eyes only to turn around and get caught by a second set of golden orbs, these belonging to Yoruichi.

"Oh I think you know," the violet haired woman said knowingly, "You gonna tell me or do I have to drag it out of you?"

Soi Fon shrugged, and after a moment of silence Yoruichi stood, her hands on the table and cigarette in her mouth.

"We're going for a walk, you and me," the dark skinned woman said firmly, leaving no room for argument as she grabbed her friend's wrist and pulled her around the table. Yoruichi cast a glance over her shoulder in time to see Ggio staring unhappily at the two of them, looking forward again with more resolve than before.

The two of them did walk for a bit, simply strolling down the dingy sidewalk without actually taking in the sights, simply walking… Yoruichi stopped abruptly and pulled Soi Fon to the side, so that the two were in the shadow of the alley that passed behind the bar. They were several minutes walk from the bar itself, but close enough to be safe.

"Now girl, speak," Yoruichi demanded, voice playful but eyes commanding. Soi Fon cast her eyes to the ground, "I don't know what happened last night, but you were having one of your nightmares, I know that much,"

The shorter of the two women opened her mouth to protest but was stopped by her friend's palm in her face, halting her words and causing a traffic-jam on her tongue.

"Don't bother telling me you weren't dreaming, I could hear you twisting around on your mattress and even whimpering a couple of times. The point is, I want to know what's got Joker so low, and from the way he's looking at you, I'd assume you're involved."

Soi Fon heaved a sigh.

"He came into my room really early this morning, around 2… he'd been up talking to Tesla; I'd heard them down in the kitchen, Tesla sounding scared and sort of angry, and Ggio just sounded serious, then surprised. He came upstairs and came into my room, but I don't think it was on purpose," she stopped talking.

"That's it?"

"No," Soi Fon answered shortly.

"Out with it,"

"Well… like you said, I'd been dreaming again. About my father. I was… I was scared," she admitted, almost shamefully, "I knew rationally nothing could hurt me, at least, nothing from the past, but my mind was sort of… eating itself I guess. It scared me."

"Okay," Yoruichi nodded, understanding in her gaze, "It would scare anyone, I think,"

"Well… Ggio had been drinking- he wasn't drunk, I don't think, because his words were clear and thinking clearer apparently, but I could still _smell_ the alcohol. And that, on top of the dream, was too much."

_It was dark, dark, dark and she could smell it, the reek of alcohol, that smell that was always, always mixed with blood and tears and pain and- but no, it was just Ggio… for a second her father's face had replaced his… her own visage twisted in disgust and panic. All she could get through her fear-clogged throat was a command for him to leave, and he had gone… somewhere she could hear his apology, but it was far away. His eyes, his_ eyes_ spoke a different message than his mouth, but what were they saying, what were they telling her?_

_ Who knew?_

"So… what, you tell him off or something? Kick his ass?" Yoruichi asked slowly, pulling Soi Fon out of her gloomy reverie.

"No, I told him to leave. That's all I _could _do, but… I think it's the way he saw me. He'd startled me, and I was already on edge from the nightmare, and I guess… I was pretty harsh with him," Soi Fon replied after a moment. Really that's all she could think of that would make sense… she hated the cold feeling she'd been getting from him all morning, but _why_? He shouldn't have cared _how _she looked at him, he was Ggio Vega, as confident as they come. Surely hate in the eyes of one woman shouldn't have bothered him… but it had.

"Well if that's all it is, then go _tell_ him that," Yoruichi sighed, leaning back against the opposite wall of the alley and shaking ash off her dwindling cigarette, adding half-jokingly "Before he takes it in his head to go over the side of the bridge or something."

"No," Soi Fon said quickly, "He's not _that _bad, don't exaggerate."

"Maybe not," the dark skinned woman told her friend, "But the faster you two clear up what's between you the better."

"It doesn't really matter," Soi Fon muttered under her breath, "As soon as he's done using us he'll kick us out."

"Look at me," Yoruichi commanded sternly, "You're going to go in there and tell him what's going on. You don't need to tell him exactly what happened, but at least assure him that you don't want him to _die_."

"Did he say he thought that?" Soi Fon asked, both a little bit curious and surprised.

"Well… he talked to Menoly about it, and since my room is next to his I could…" the dark skinned woman cleared her throat awkwardly, "Uh… overhear them."

"You were eavesdropping."

"Well maybe, but that's not important!"

"Curiosity killed the cat,"

"Shut up,"

"Well I'm still not telling him anything," Soi Fon said stubbornly, "There's no point to it anyways, since we'll be getting out as soon as we complete our deal."

"So you're saying you'll leave once business is finished," Yoruichi confirmed. Soi Fon nodded, "You'd leave Ggio and Tesla and this place behind for material gain."

Soi Fon nodded again, more slowly, the lie of her total agreement shining in her eyes.

"Not for material gain necessarily," she clarified, "But I won't be staying here."

Yoruichi didn't answer her friend, only staring, practically boring holes in Soi Fon as if she couldn't believe the silver eyed girl's stupidity; Soi Fon fought the urge to drop her gaze, glaring steadily back.

"You're staying out here," the violet haired woman told the shorter of the pair, breaking the long pause and beginning to walk down the alley "until you can get your priorities straight."

"What is the supposed to mean?" Soi Fon called down the alley, and Yoruichi only waved in reply, not even looking back as she turned down another small road to head back to the bar. Soi Fon simply stood in the narrow space between buildings, not sure of what to do… go back? But Yoruichi had said to stay until she had reorganized her mind…. A loud crash pulled her from her thoughts as she started at the sound, whipping her head around.

A few feet away, a young tomcat, hardly more than a kitten, stood with his fur on end as he stared at her with lamp-like amber eyes; beside him was a jumble of crates that had been stacked a moment before, having been knocked over by the cat's passage.

As Soi Fon took in its appearance, she noticed several things… one of the amber orbs was swollen almost shut, blood oozing from a scratch under the eye as the thin creature took a limping step backward, its back foot lifted off the concrete and dripping sanguine. A collar, far too small for the cat, caused its breath to rattle strangely in its throat. Soi Fon crouched down to get closer to the animal, reaching out to it with gentle fingers.

The small silver tabby hissed wildly and slashed at her with his claws, drawing blood. The woman smiled softly despite the crimson welling from the vertical wounds on the back of her hand, placing her hand out again, more slowly.

"We're the same, you and I," she murmured, a little bit sadly as the cat inched forward to sniff her fingers, "We're so afraid of being hurt again that we won't let those who truly care for us get close. But that's the way it is, hm?"

After about half an hour of coaxing Soi Fon was able to scoop the dirty, mat-furred and mistreated animal into her arms without his flying into a panic. She cradled him gently against her chest, crooning nonsensically to calm him.

"Let's get you home… we'll fix you up a bit, shall we? Yes, there's a good kitty, good kitty…"

She kept soothing the injured animal as she made her way back to the bar, being careful not to jostle him too much or cause him pain. She kept thinking as she went… this cat wasn't just like her, but Ggio as well; while she was the part of the cat that shied away from human contact for fear of more pain, she also was taking care not to cause it deliberate agonies? Wasn't it much the same with Ggio as well? But, she realized, how could she avoid causing him pain without putting some amount of faith in him, and vice versa?

Even as she worked her way through this she came upon the back steps of the bar, noticing the black haired man in question sitting on the lowest stair. He stood at her appearance, looking relieved.

"You're back!" he said with a relaxed half-smile, "I got worried when Yoruichi returned without you,"

"No you didn't," Soi Fon said dismissively, searching his face for reaction as he shook his head.

"Yes, I did," he contradicted, then noticed the cat in the woman's arms, "But… who's this?"

"I picked him up back there," the black haired woman answered, calling out a warning as Ggio reached forward, "Wait! He'll scratch you-!"

Disregarding her completely, the ochre-eyed man scooped the cat from her arms, cradling him like one would a baby so that the animal laid belly up, his paws tucked over his chest. Ggio tickled the cat's chin and looked at Soi Fon with a grin.

"He's a sweetie," the man smiled, "Guess I was right when I thought you liked cats…"

"Why is he so at ease with _you_?" Soi Fon pouted, shoving her scratched hand deep into her pockets almost sulkily.

"Alley cats know their one of their own when they see it," the man smirked, "But what are you carrying him around for?"

"I… um…" Soi Fon was speechless for a moment as she watched the cat bury its face in Ggio's chest, warming up to him without any of the coaxing it had taken from her; If she cast her personality on the cat, in the way he had backed off from her aid out of fear, what did that mean for his reaction toward Ggio? "He's injured so I was going to take him inside and patch him up a bit."

"Tesla doesn't let animals into the bar," Ggio told her, poking the cat gently in the belly and then pulling back as it batted at his hands with half-sheathed claws, "Since the Health Bureau would mark down his business if they found out."

"But then… what am I supposed to do with him?" Soi Fon asked, almost despairingly; the thought of leaving the poor thing in the alley

"What Tes doesn't know won't hurt him," the black haired man grinned mischievously as the cat squirmed up and draped itself over his shoulder, "Probably."

…

Several minutes later, Soi Fon found herself sitting cross-legged on the floor of the bathroom that acted as a passage between her and Ggio's rooms, holding the cat in her lap as the black haired man put a bit of warm water into a basin. He placed the container on the floor and grabbed a washcloth before joining her on the tile.

The two had snuck the cat upstairs in Ggio's jacket, checking carefully for Tesla's tell-tale honey blonde hair as they ascended the stairs. The two had smuggled the thing up to the bathroom to try and fix him up as best they could with the materials they had.

"Hold him still," Ggio ordered, soaking the cloth in the water, "I don't want to get my eye gouged out, three people in eye patches in one building is a bit much."

Soi Fon held the cat gingerly, unsure of what would happen when Ggio touched the animal. The man reached forward, ignoring the mewling of the adolescent animal as it pulled its head away from him; he began to rub blood out of the cat's fur, being careful to avoid the eye. He then moved to the somewhat nastier wound on the kitten's back leg, a deep gash that stretched across the thing's haunch ending in a sharp, jagged twist that still welled with fresh crimson.

After nearly forty-five minutes the Ggio and Soi Fon had gotten the animal's wounds clean, and were inspecting him as a general whole.

"He needs a bath," Soi Fon commented, almost sounding dismayed.

"He won't like that too much, I'd imagine, but you're right… he's kind of filthy," Ggio agreed, "Well, here goes nothing,"

Without further ado, the ochre-eyed man grabbed the cat and tried to dump it into the basin of warm water they had between them. Immediately the kitten sank its claws into Ggio's arm to try and avoid the water, both Ggio and the cat hissing, one in fear and the other in pain as they stood at an impasse of sorts.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just rub him all over with the cloth?" Soi Fon asked, holding up the pink-stained rag. Ggio blinked at her, thin rivulets of blood running down his fingers; he took the rag from her and began wiping the cat's fur free of the dirt that clotted it.

"Well that'll have to do for now," Ggio said as the two of them passed from the bathroom and into his bedroom, "Hold him while I go get some bandages for his foot,"

Soi Fon situated herself on Ggio's bed, and took a look around. It occurred to her that she had never really been in his room, only caught glimpses of it through the bathroom door. The floor was dark mahogany wood like the rest of the flat, a small square black carpet set in front of the bed, which was draped in equally dark clothes and edged with bullion on the sheets and pillow cases. The walls were painted a proud gold, draped with cloth to match the bedclothes, and on the wall opposite the bed the cloth was stitched with a saber-fanged tiger in red, outlined in gold-stitch. There was wooden desk, covered in blueprints and newspapers in the corner beside a wardrobe with its drawers open, from which spilled ill-folded clothing. A heap of dirty laundry resided beside it, in which the cat she should have been watching was making a nest of sorts.

It was a beautiful room, all told, very… _Ggio_: untidy but cozy, cold at first glance but actually very warm. Soi Fon sighed and went to retrieve the cat from beneath a pair of Ggio's boxers, which she hoped to God, were clean.

"Enjoying yourself?" the man in question asked as he came up behind her, "If I remember correctly you accused _me_ of being a panty-thief… but if you're that eager to have those, I'm not complaining,"

"Wha-" Soi Fon flushed, grabbing the cat around the middle and dragging it out of the laundry, "No! I just wanted _him_ out of your clothes! We just washed him, he's going to start smelling like dirty laundry!"

"Or my clothes will smell like kitten," Ggio laughed, "But I'm just teasing you, little bee,"

Soi Fon watched as his bright grin faded a little and the look in his eyes changed for half a second as he looked at her, his resentment, or maybe hurt from the night before flooding back…. but she blinked, and the look was gone, his smile back in place as he held out his hands for the cat.

"I'm going to get the collar off of him," he said, flipping the pocket knife he held, "I tried to get it before but the clasp is stuck and I was afraid of choking him."

Soi Fon placed the cat on the bed, watching as Ggio took hold of it by the scruff and pinned him to the bed. The kitten flailed his paws wildly, but to no avail as the man who held him slipped the blade closer to his throat. He began to mewl piteously as he felt the cold steel touch his fur and-

The collar snapped free from the cat's throat, allowing him to breathe a bit more freely. He rolled back onto his paw, crouching with his ears flat to his head as he looked up at Ggio. Soi Fon picked up the collar, a thin red strip of leather with a little silver fish charm hanging from the side, and then looked at the cat again as Ggio sat down on the bed and took the thing in his arms.

"Got a name for it?" he asked.

"A… what?"

"A name?"

"But we're not… I mean, I didn't think Tesla allowed animals in!" Soi Fon cried.

"Oh come on, we both know you're not mean enough to just toss him back out on the streets," Ggio smirked. Soi Fon didn't answer, only looking at the black haired man until his expression changed to a more blank visage, "What?"

"You think I'm cruel enough," she said lowly, staring at him, silver clashing on gold, "You must, since you told Menoly I want you to die."

"Wha… she _told_ you?!" Ggio looked strangely panicked, and a little bit angry, "How much? How much did she say?"

"Menoly didn't tell me anything," Soi Fon answered, slightly taken aback, "Yoruichi could overhear you talking to her. Her room _is _right next door."

Ggio buried his face in his hands with a groan, the cat leaping out of his lap as he did so.

"Did she say anything… _else_?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Why, were you saying worse things behind my back?" Soi Fon countered. She was tempted to cross her fingers behind her back; if he said yes she might cry. After killing him in the most brutal manner possible of course.

"No!" Ggio cried, "I didn't say anything bad about you, honest! And I don't think you're cruel, it's just…"

"Just what?"

_His eyes were speaking a different message than his mouth again, and she still couldn't understand. What was he trying to say? What was he _really _trying to say_?

"It's nothing," he smiled, "Honest. Now come on, this guy needs a name."

"Liar," Soi Fon said coolly, crouching down to scratch the cat's head. Ggio didn't say anything, his face serious and tired now.

"I am a liar. And a thief; a murderer; a drunkard," he gave an almost bitter smirk now, "There's a lot in me to hate."

"But there's also a lot in you to love," the silver-eyed woman replied softly, picking up the cat. Ggio looked at her, his expression close to awe as she stood, and spoke in a more normal tone, "Hm, Mao?"

"Mao?" Ggio wondered, still looking stricken, slightly dazed as if he couldn't understand what she'd said a moment before.

"Yes. I've decided we're calling him Mao,"

"_Miao_," the newly named cat agreed, rubbing his silver-patterned head against his mistress.

"Well, I promised Yoruichi I'd help her organize her room… she brought over our gear from our apartment. He can stay here, right?" Soi Fon didn't wait for an answer, placing the cat on the floor and turning away, not quite fast enough to hide the flush that had crept back into her cheeks at her comment to Ggio. _Love_ she had said. Why _Love_? Why not just _Like_?

The door closed behind the woman and Ggio stared at it for a moment before looking back down at Mao, who stopped his grooming to stare back.

"'There's a lot to love?'" he repeated to the animal, "What in the hell did she mean by that?"

The cat didn't give him so much as a mewl, only going back to licking his claws.

"You're right," Ggio sighed, "It's probably nothing."


	24. Chapter 24

_A/N: Well. It seems I'm late once again… *facedesk* I really need to get my crap together, which is why I'm giving everyone advanced warning that I am going on a __**one week hiatus**__ to try and get back into posting on time…. I'm sorry!_

_ In the meanwhile, enjoy this chapter, which was brought on by the recent outbreak of flu at my school… I have as of yet avoided getting sick! Haha~_

_ I hope you guys are all staying healthy too! Have a good week! ;)_

Stick a Needle…?

Soi Fon stood in the kitchen behind the bar sometime around noon nearly a week after her encounter with Ggio and Mao, looking at her reflection the glass she was rubbing dry with a dishrag as Menoly worked busily beside her at the sink, the blonde humming quietly to herself. Though it had already been a few days, the black haired woman was still highly embarrassed by her choice of words to Ggio, though she knew she had no reason to be… after all, he was Ggio. He probably wouldn't read too much into it.

Even as she thought this, placing the cup she had been holding back in the cupboards, the man in question suddenly began roaring with laughter from where he stood near the back door; even the usually conservative Tesla was gasping for breath as Ggio doubled over, trying to get a hold of himself.

"St-stupid bastard…!" the ochre eyed man snorted, bursting out into peals of hilarity again, "That guy deserved it!"

"I know, I know!" Tesla agreed, wiping tears from his eyes, a grin still on his face, "But come on, if we don't leave now we'll be late… and we're not driving Vega-style!"

Soi Fon's silvered gaze followed Ggio until he disappeared through the doorway, still bickering good-naturedly with Tesla as he went. He didn't notice her staring at him, but his grin had her resisting the urge to bury her face in the towel she was holding; he looked happy, just _happy_… she liked it.

_He _had gone completely back to normal, so what the hell was wrong with _her_? She didn't understand!

"So you worked things out with Ggio-nii then?" Menoly asked, looking sly askance at the other woman as Yoruichi crossed the room with a similar grin on her face.

"What?"

"Oh don't pretend like you weren't just undressing him with your eyes," Yoruichi winked as she came up to the bar, leaning there and grinning like a cat with a mouse between its paws, her violently violet hair out of its usual pony tail and hanging over her shoulder instead.

"Wha-" Soi Fon choked, whirling to look at her old friend, "I was _not_!"

The other two women simply laughed and made sarcastic affirmations, continuing to tease the silver eyed girl almost mercilessly until she finally flicked sudsy dishwater at them from the sink.

"Hey!" Yoruichi giggled, holding her hands up in defense against the soapy liquid as her friend continued to spray her with a fine mist of the stuff; the violet haired woman ducked behind the bar as Soi Fon turned to give Menoly the same punishment. Instead, she was met with the sight of the blonde slightly lifting her eye patch to scratch at her cheekbone. She had seen Tesla do this quite a few times, which made her wonder if it was a nervous habit or if the thing he used to cover his eye was uncomfortable.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you lose your eye?" Soi Fon asked, the words slipping out before she had a chance to catch them. She paused; she _had _been wondering that, but it was rude of her to ask…. She suddenly had a bout of conflicting emotion. Not only had her stay at the bar made her let down her guard so she said things she didn't necessarily want out in the open, as with Ggio and her stupid choice of words with him (_love… why the _hell _had she said _love_?) _but it had also started making her _care_ if she was rude!

Menoly only stared at Soi Fon as all this ran through the dark haired woman's head, as if contemplating what her answer would be. Behind them, Yoruichi whistled lowly and muttered, "Awk-ward…"

"I guess I wouldn't really mind telling you," the blonde woman said with a smile after a moment, "We're friends, after all."

"Friends…." Soi Fon murmured to herself. She supposed it was true… but she had never really allowed herself to be close to anyone but Yoruichi, and at the beginning of their relationship it had been built purely out of her debt to the dark skinned woman. A light smile touched Soi Fon's face as well as she thought first about how naïve Menoly was to make 'friends' so quickly with someone she had only met a week before… but then about how soft she herself have become. She sort of liked it.

"The man Tesla used to serve is named Nnoitra Gilga," Menoly began as she placed a freshly washed dish in the cupboard, "He was very cruel, very… violent. But my brother loved him as a master. I never understood why back then, but Tesla followed Nnoitra like a dog, doing whatever he was asked in order to try and gain approval; the thing about Nnoitra is, though, that he has no value for human life. However, he understands how closely people valued one another, and he used that to his own advantage… he chose Tesla in the first place to be a Fracción because he knew that I existed. When Nnoitra chose Tesla he was able to do exactly as intended… he took Tesla, and, to establish dominance, said he would ruin my eye. My brother begged Nnoitra to hurt him instead, which the man complied with…. But right after that he made Tesla watch as he marked my face as well."

There was a silence filled only by the clinking of dishes as Menoly finished up with the washing.

"Tesla… even after what this Nnoitra guy did to you two, you said he followed him like a dog? Loved him as a master? _How_?" Yoruichi asked, sounding not only shocked, but disgusted as well."

"It went like that for a while," the blonde woman replied, wiping her hands on a dishrag and draining the sink, "I think it had more to do with Tesla's mental state. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he needed something of a father figure, or someone to lead him… he'd always been making decisions for the two of us, the strain of that on a child's mind may have been too much. But personally I think it had more to do with his lying to himself… telling himself that even if he hated Nnoitra he had to serve the best he could to help us survive, until eventually truth and lie became one and the same to him. But Ggio managed to convince Tesla to break off from both Nnoitra and Aizen, so…"

"Well, Joker is a smooth talker…" Yoruichi said with a smirk, "Isn't that right, Soi Fon?"

"Oh, don't start that again!" the dark haired woman cried in exasperation.

Menoly only smiled.

…..

Later that night, Soi Fon lay in bed on her side, the stuffed tiger from her arcade escapade with Ggio wrapped in her arms for comfort as she stared blankly out at the darkness, just listening to the supposed silence. She'd had another of her nightmares, but it hadn't been as bad as the ones preceding it; it had been short, mercifully brief… not even a complete dream, really. Something had woken her up, but she couldn't put her finger on it… so she lay in the dark, listening, listening, listening…

Just as she was about to drift back asleep she was rewarded by her attentiveness, hearing a low sound from roughly where Ggio's room was situated. It was his voice, but she wasn't sure if he had said something or if he was just muttering the unintelligible gibberish that only those speakers of somniloquy understand.

The woman rolled over, pausing to fight her braids as they tangled around her before settling down once more to try and get to sleep. If Ggio was sleep-talking, then she wasn't about to go do anything about it; she knew for a fact that _she _sometimes spoke, moaned, shouted and even _sang _in her sleep, so who was she to reproach the man?

For the second time in a very short span, Soi Fon was tottering on the brink of unconsciousness only to be jerked back by something. Although this time, she was very certain of what had woken her up.

She first heard Mao, mewling, the charm on the new collar she had bought him a couple days ago jangling quietly as he seemed to move in a panicked pattern; there was a pounding of footsteps, the door banged against the wall on Ggio's side of the bathroom… a thud that sounded like someone hitting their elbow or shin on the side of the tub. There then followed a noise that Soi Fon had become well-acquainted with over the span of her life: vomiting.

Soi Fon listened as Ggio coughed a couple of times, the sound echoing around the toilet bowl she knew he was probably bent over; she sighed. The stupid ass had probably gotten stone drunk again and was paying for it… it wasn't like it hadn't happened to him before. He should have known better by then.

However, despite her irritation at the man's idiocy and her over all annoyance at being woken up, the woman found herself rolling out of bed and walking to the bathroom, yanking open the door and allowing for Mao to streak through into her room, away from his violently ill-sounding master. Soi Fon supposed she felt bad for Ggio, despite the fact that it was his own damn fault he was suffering the way he was.

She walked over the threshold to find Ggio kneeling by the toilet, and wincing as he threw up again into the porcelain basin, looking miserable.

"How much did you drink, idiot?" she asked, intonations of boredom and sympathy clashing in her voice as she crossed the tiled room to stand beside the man on the floor. Ggio looked up at her, too nauseous to even consider being apologetic or surprised about Soi Fon's appearance in the bathroom.

Soi Fon was actually surprised by Ggio's haggard appearance. He was shirtless and in sweatpants, which was no surprise, but he was pale, as if all of his blood had been drained out of him. His hair was down out of its customary braid, wrapped in only a loose ponytail that had pull out half way to leave lank, sweat-dampened strands hanging in his eyes and sticking to his face. Dark, bruise-like scored under his eyes, making it look like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Nothing!" he rasped, "I haven't been drinking, I sw-"

Soi Fon glanced away as the man bent back over the toilet, coughing up nothing but thin bile now; his dry heaving was arching his back with the force of his spasms, and looked downright painful. She sat down on the edge of the tub, carefully reached over to where he had more or less collapsed and pulled his hair out of his face to keep it out of the toilet.

"Well this is ironic," Ggio gasped, shooting her a fairly pathetic attempt at a smile.

"What?"

"Isn't it usually the boy who holds the girl's hair up when she's puking her guts out for whatever reason?"

Soi Fon only shrugged, frowning a bit. She thought about making a comment concerning the fact that his hair was longer than the average male's, but decided against it.

"So if this isn't a hangover, what the hell is _wrong_ with you?" the silver-eyed woman asked, allowing the man's hair to fall back into place as he rocked back on his heels and slumped against the wall behind him, eyes closed but chest heaving. He didn't answer as Soi Fon flushed the toilet.

"Hell if I know," he murmured, his bloodless lips barely moving. He didn't react immediately when his companion placed her wrist on his forehead, resisting the urge to gasp at the heat that radiated from his skin. She could feel the warmth coming from him before she had even gotten within a few inches of his face, but touching his skin simply confirmed the fact for her that Ggio was running a fever.

"You're cold," he complained, squirming a bit to get away from her. Even as Soi Fon watched, Ggio started shuddering despite being drenched in sweat.

"So you say," she replied, getting up from her perch on the edge of the bathtub, "Do you think you can get up to go to bed?"

"Ah hell, I don't know," he groaned, "Just go back to bed, I'll… ugh… figure this shit out on my own."

"If you think I can sleep through your… _that_," Soi Fon indicated him as a general whole, "You are seriously mistaken. If you can't get into bed on your own, I'm not going to just leave you here… look, I'll help you back to your room and leave a bowl on the bedside table if you have the urge to vomit again. It's better for you to be kept warm."

"Even if I feel the need to blow chunks," Ggio said hollowly, "There is honestly _nothing_ left to come up,"

"All the same…. Sit it out for the night and when everyone gets up tomorrow we'll see about things," Soi Fon told him, grabbing a washcloth off the counter and wiping sweat from Ggio's brow, "Who knows? Maybe it's one of those twenty-four-hour bugs that have been going around."

….

"Morning Ms. Soi Fon," Tesla greeted the following morning with some surprise as he exited his room to find her standing in the hallway, "You're up early,"

"I didn't really sleep last night, so I suppose so," the woman answered tiredly with a shrug.

"Oh…" the blonde man looked mildly concerned, "May I ask why you lost sleep? If there's something I can do to help, then…"

Soi Fon opened her mouth but was cut off by the sound of retching in the room behind her, and instead simply thumbed over her shoulder with a bland look on her face by way of explanation.

"Ggio's been a bit _off_ since last night," she said. Tesla looked uneasily over her shoulder and into the bathroom where the black haired man had once again taken up residence beside the toilet, "I got him some water a couple minutes ago to see if he could hold that down at least, but apparently not."

Ggio stood unsteadily and looked across the room at Tesla, who gave a small wave to his friend. The ochre-eyed man returned the gesture weakly and stumbled back to his room without a word, nudging Mao with his toes to keep the cat hidden from the blonde.

"He's sick?" Tesla sounded shocked, "That _never _happens to him! He hasn't had more than a cold since his twentieth birthday!"

"Well, now he's got whatever this crap is, and if he can't get something into his system sooner or later he might end up in a hospital," Soi Fon told the man.

Tesla sighed, passing a hand over his face.

"If it's not one thing with him it's another," the blonde muttered, "We'll give him a couple of days, and if he doesn't improve by then we'll have to take him to someone who knows what they're doing… there's nothing else for it."

…

"Come on, try to eat _these _at least," Soi Fon coaxed almost half a day later, "Just water and saltines,"

"I'm telling you… I _can't_," Ggio lamented from where he was stretched out under a few layers of blankets. His fever had dropped a bit, but he hadn't eaten or drank anything in almost a day and half. His face had flushed a while ago but he was once again pale, his lips and skin dry for lack of sustenance, "It's just going to come back up…"

"Ggio-nii, if you don't at least try it's just going to get worse," Menoly said from his other side, looking worried. The blonde women had drifted into his room nearly half an hour ago with Yoruichi at her side. The dark haired man had been wavering in and out of consciousness throughout the day, spending what time he wasn't sleeping in misery.

"You know," Ggio said, in a weak attempt at humor, "In any other circumstance, if I was surrounded by three girls in my room, I'd probably think I'd died and gone to heaven. But this kind of sucks."

"What," Yoruichi smirked as she reentered his room with her phone in hand, "We're not pretty enough for ya, Joker? But lucky you, I called someone that might be able to help your situation. A certain doctor."

"Ah fuck, if you called Szayel… I will _literally… _drag myself out of here and… ugh… throw myself off the roof," Ggio said, his eyes narrowing with the effort of holding back his nausea.

"No, no, calm down Black Jack," Yoruichi reprimanded, using her secondary nickname for him, "I meant Tessai. Who the hell is Szayel?"

"All you need to know about Szayel is that he broke Ggio's shoulder trying to get a bullet out of his arm with rusty pliers," Soi Fon said with a straight face as her dark skinned friend winced in sympathy pain, "Without anesthetics."

"Yeah no, Tessai is much more reliable than that guy, I should think. He'll probably just give you an IV and… what?" Yoruichi asked, causing the rest of the group to look at Ggio. His eyes were wide and he had, if possible, gone paler than before and pushed himself up into rigid sitting position that made his trembling extremely obvious.

"And IV?" he repeated, "Like, with… a needle?"

"Is there any other kind?" Yoruichi said a bit sarcastically.

"Hell… fucking…. No," the ochre-eyed man said slowly, "I'd rather…. Just stay like this… thanks."

"Are you stupid?" Soi Fon cried, "If you keep on like this you'll _die_."

"Um…" Menoly squeaked, "You should know…. Ggio-nii is a sort of trypanophobe…"

"What?"

"She mean's Ggio's a wuss who's afraid of needles," Tesla said upon entering the room midway through the conversation. Soi Fon sent up a quick, silent prayer that Mao was hiding in her closet and not in his usual place under Ggio's bed.

"You're afraid of needles? Seriously?" Soi Fon gave the sick man an incredulous look, "You have no problem being shot at, but you're afraid of _needles_?"

Ggio simply glared at her.

"Well tough titty Joker, I already called Tessai. You're gonna have to suck it up and take it like a man," Yoruichi told him.

"Fuck you," Ggio mumbled, sinking back down as his locked elbows gave in and collapsed.

Soi Fon was secretly pleased. She was also anxious, but if Tessai could at least get Ggio somewhat back to normal, she was pleased.

….

Tessai arrived at the bar when business was in full swing, his huge form cutting through the crowd of rowdy drunks with ease despite his size, closely followed by Kisuke, and strangely enough by Ururu and Jinta.

"H-hey, you can't come in unless you're over 18," the stand-in for Ggio's job as a bouncer cried as Ururu walked under his outstretched arm, wincing as Jinta kicked him in the shin.

"Screw you old man!" the red head called, grinning as he slipped into the crowd and caught up with the rest of his company; he then addressed Ururu, "But man, if that old Cat called up Tessai something must be going on… or she's cheap and doesn't want to go to a hospital herself."

"Hey now Jinta, I owe Ms. Yoruichi a favor you know," Kisuke reprimanded lightly with a smile as he lifted up the brim of his hat with one finger to get a good look at the boy, "Be nice, alright?"

"Yeah yeah,"

The group headed toward the stairs, stopping as they caught sight of the blonde bartender and his sister.

"Good to see you again, Tesla," Kisuke greeted pleasantly, shaking the man's hand and then bowing almost playfully to Menoly, "And you, young miss, though we haven't met I'd assume you are a relative of the barmaster's."

"O-oh… yes, hello," Menoly returned the greeting nervously before bursting out, "But you're here for Ggio-nii, right? Which one of you is Tessai? Yoruichi said you'd come, so-"

"Menoly…" Tesla cut her off tiredly, turning back to his work as he spoke, "This is never going to get anywhere if you keep talking. Ggio's upstairs, my sister can take you up,"

Menoly nodded and turned toward the flight of steps, beckoning to the rest of the group as she headed up.

"If you don't mind my asking, where _is _Yoruichi?" Kisuke prodded the blonde girl which he followed. Behind him, Jinta smirked and whispered something to Ururu that had her blushing to the roots of her black hair.

"Right here," the dark skinned woman called with a sharp grin from her position on the floor beside Ggio's closed-off bedroom; she got up and looped her arm through Kisuke's, "Welcome back, and thank you for coming,"

"What were you doing on the floor?" Kisuke asked, looking a bit surprised, "I thought you would have been with Soi Fon,"

"Well I was, but she hasn't gotten much sleep since Black Jack's been sick… she ended up falling asleep at his bedside, so I just sort of excused myself," the feline woman explained before turning to Tessai, "I hope you can do something… not like I'm overly concerned about Ggio getting taken out by a common strain of flu, but Soi Fon isn't taking too kindly to his suffering for reasons we can all figure out I'm sure."

"Everyone but her," Menoly sighed, cracking open Ggio's bedroom door and peeking inside, "Alright, everyone in. Have fun trying to stick a trypanophobe, Mr. Tessai,"

"Won't be a problem," the large man answered in his typical clipped pattern, pushing his glasses up his nose and hefting the bag he was carrying, "I've done it to Jinta,"

"Right you have," the young redhead muttered, rubbing his biceps in memory of the occasion.

The party of six trooped into Ggio's room to find him laying on his side facing Soi Fon, her hand placed atop his, her other arm used as a pillow as she leaned onto his bed. Both were breathing deeply and steadily, obviously asleep. Yoruichi felt bad about what she had to do, but she woke Soi Fon up anyways.

"Hey," she murmured to her friend as she shook her awake, "Time to let Tessai do his thing, alright?"

"Hmm?" the woman wondered dreamily, raising her head to look at the people in the room, "Oh, sorry…"

The dark haired woman stood and pulled her hand from Ggio's, making to move away and give Tessai room, but as she did Ggio gave a shuddering sigh and opened his eyes, looking at Soi Fon half amused and half reproachful.

"Leaving?" he muttered with a tremulous smirk, his voice rough and his throat dry, "Ah well I suppose… can't ask you to stay by me forever… well fuck."

The end of his sentence was in reply to the fact that he had spotted Tessai; he scrambled upright as well as he could, managing to get himself dizzily into sitting position and glaring unhappily at the people in his room.

"You can just stay over there," Ggio said as loudly as he could manage, which was a cracked whisper at best and rather unimpressive, "Because I'm sure as hell… not going to let you touch me,"

"Stop being difficult Joker," Yoruichi snapped, "You're being a damn idiot; Now you're gonna put up or shut up and let Tessai do what he needs to, and I'm fairly certain we all know you don't have what it takes to put up at the moment!"

Ggio made no reply; Soi Fon wasn't sure he was able to, with how much he was struggling to get his breathing under control… she herself knew the implications of severe dehydration like he was suffering. Blood pressure drops, cells became hypotonic and at worst case burst within blood vessels causing oxygen count to drop and slowly suffocate the victim. That assessment was even ignoring the fact that the man hadn't eaten anything either. His tongue was probably swollen as well, making it even more difficult for him to speak than it should have been.

Tessai pulled up a chair beside Ggio's bed and pulled a fragmented IV pole from his bag, piecing it together silently as his patient looked on with apprehensive eyes. By the time the whole set up was rigged and the gentle giant had retrieved the needle tube and tape from his pack, the ochre-eyed man had squirmed to the very opposite side of the bed, closest to where Soi Fon was sitting. Tessai held out his hand for Ggio's arm, and when the limb was not willingly offered he took the liberty of securing it on his own.

"Come on guys," Ggio protested weakly, but looking panicked, "This is really, _really _unnecessary… please…"

"Just don't think about it," Soi Fon said to him, though she too was watching Tessai as he cleared the needle of air and hooked it to the IV tubing, "Here… look at me. Don't think about anything, just focus away from what Tessai's doing."

As she said this, she took his other hand with which he gripped her fingers tightly. She could read the unreasonable fear in his eyes, could read the self reproach there as well, but also the relief he felt at her aid. He kept his gaze locked on hers, face purposely bent away from where Tessai held him arm. At one point Ggio closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, but by then Tessai had already taped the needle in place.

"Done," the man said, standing up, "You'll be fine in a few days, and better than you are now in a couple of hours."

Ggio only grunted unhappily by way or reply, avoiding looking at his arm and not making any move to let go of Soi Fon's hand.

"There ya pussy, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Yoruichi grinned teasingly, getting no reply.

"Have the rest of you been vaccinated?" Kisuke asked curiously.

"Yoruichi and I went together a while ago," Soi Fon confirmed.

"Tes is a bit of a mysophobe and a neat freak, so he's had one I bet, but I haven't gone," Menoly said a bit sheepishly.

"Well, being inoculated won't keep you from getting sick, so the rest of you should be careful," Tessai told the group solemnly as he headed for the door, "Call me if anything happens."

"Thanks for coming!" Yoruichi waved happily and then bounded over to give Kisuke a kiss on the cheek, "You too, even though you did nothing but take up space,"

"Yeah, well," the blonde shopkeeper grinned, "That's what I do best,"

While all this was going on, Soi Fon looked at Ggio.

He still hadn't let go of her hand.

"Uh…" she started, "Will you let me go?"

The man only smiled slightly and shook his head.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Aaaaaaand I'm back from hiatus, refreshed and caught up on work! I deeply apologize for having to break like that, but know that I will make up for it. Also, warning you all, next week I will be going on a mission trip to Mexico at the Villa de Carbon… if the next chapter gets posted on time, you have my besties yellowmellowonthewall and beegirl18 to thank. If not, they forgot and I'm sorry. I hope you all enjoy this chapter (despite the fact that it's mostly just there to advance the story, foreshadow future events, etc) and drop me some feedback if you have the time! Thanks for being patient and sticking with me!**

A Half-Moon Grin

"Hey!" Yoruichi called a few days after Ggio's fiasco, coming into the front room from the hallway with a french-fry in her mouth and a large bag of fast food in her arms, "Come and get it ya ungratful pack of lazyass punks!"

"I resent that!" Tesla's voice floated from the back office, his head appearing around the doorframe; he looked exhausted, with a pen tucked behind his ear and a stack of paperwork tottering on his desk behind him.

"Fuck yeah! What'ja bring me? I'm starving!" Ggio crowed energetically, flipping himself over the railing on the stairs and barely avoiding landing on a table. Soi Fon heaved a sigh; since Tessai's visit, the black haired man's condition had improved until the present date, upon which he had been completely cured of whatever had afflicted him before.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Yoruichi teased, pulling the bag of food away from the man, "You don't get any food 'till you put a shirt on Joker,"

"Aw, don't be like that!" Ggio complained, stretching forward and flailing for the food, "Look, you can see my ribs, just give it here!"

"Got it!" Menoly suddenly shouted, jumping up and grabbing the bag out of the dark skinned woman's hand while she was distracted by Ggio. The blonde woman danced away as her brother came out of the office.

"No fair!" Yoruichi laughed, vaulting over a table to get to the fleeing female; Menoly put the bag on an empty table as soon as the dark skinned woman ceased to give chase, "I was going to use that as a bargaining chip to get our resident stripper over there to put some clothes on!"

"Oh, that's _low_! I am _not_ a stripper!" Ggio cried, "I just have no desire to cover myself when there's no need! After all, it's not like I hurt to look at,"

"Ha! Dream on Black Jack! Your ugly mug is the reason there's a crack in the bathroom mirror upstairs!"

"There's a _crack_ in my mirror?" Tesla butted in, "How did _that_ happen!"

"I told you, Ggio's face," Yoruichi replied seriously, glancing back at the ochre-eyed man in question and smothering a laugh as she caught him emptying a bag of fries into his open mouth.

"Hey, Ggio ate my chicken nuggets!" Menoly shouted, poking the man in the stomach, "Give them back!"

"Aw com'on Ggio, those were for Menoly," Yoruichi said reprovingly.

"I didn't do anything!" the man defended, "I swear!"

"Well…" Soi Fon joined into the conversation with a sly smile, "I'm certainly enjoying them."

The other four paused their squabbling to look at the silver eyed woman, who had a drink in one hand and the last chicken nugget in the other, grinning before she popped it in her mouth as the others gaped at her. Ggio flashed her a wide smile, which earned him a punch in the arm from Tesla.

_These are the days_, she thought, her proud smirk slipping a bit as her amusement was crushed by this thought, this black thought that's origin was unknown, _These are the days that must inevitably come to an end._

_ These happy days will be the first to be destroyed_.

…

Ulquiorra sat rigidly in his chair, staring blankly across the table at Grimmjow's sneering face, the man's untidy blue hair falling over his narrowed eyes. Even as he watched, the blue-eyed man raised his middle finger at him.

"Fuck off Schiffer. Find something else to stare at,"

Oh how he hated this man.

Ulquiorra sighed through his nose and closed his empty green eyes, trying to empty his mind for the sake of peace. The true source of his irritation, however, was on his left shoulder. Stark's head. It was on his shoulder. And there was a high possibility that the indolent man was drooling on him.

He did his best not to simply pull out his gun and fire it through the top of Starks' skull, instead making do with shoving the other man off of him. Stark moved to the left; had Nnoitra been where he should have, the number one Espada would have come to rest against the thin man's ribcage. As it was, the dark haired man simply toppled off his chair and onto the floor, much to the amusement of Grimmjow.

"Wow," the sixth person of their group snorted as Stark mumbled something and blinked his eyes open, "Nice."

Ulquiorra simply brushed his sleeve off in disgust, searching the room; everyone was present but for Nnoitra, Szayel, Gin, Tousen, and the top man himself, Aizen. At the far end of the table Yammy was holding a tense conversation with Aaroniero, their schizophrenic disguise artist. The latter man seemed to be switching personalities rapidly as he spoke to the huge man beside him, the number nine tattooed under his eye wrinkling with the rest of the man's skin as he pulled a face of disgust. Though Ulquiorra couldn't hear what was being said, the look of irritation on Yammy's face spoke volumes.

Meanwhile, Tia and Louisenbairn were engaged in a more or less silent exchange, the older man simply muttering information across the table and the blonde woman nodding every now and then to signify she understood, occasionally distracted by Zommari's flipping of cards in his tarot deck.

"Ah what the hell," Grimmjow snarled to Ulquiorra a few minutes later, "I'm going to stop showing up on time if we just end up waiting for the rest of these fuckers to get their asses here!"

"Might I remind you, you weren't here on time," the pale man said flatly, the edge in his voice not entirely obvious to the man across from him, "You were almost half an hour late."

"Whatever, I'm still here, ain't I? I got better things to do than wait around on those bastards Nnoitra and Szayel!"

"Yeah, well…" Stark joined passively, now back in his chair, "It's better for us to be here when Aizen is than to get in trouble for making him wait."

"Mm," Ulquiorra agreed shortly, although secretly he thought Grimmjow had a point; he had wanted to spend the day with the woman. She had just been discharged from the hospital, after all. He wanted to be around her without the irritating presence of the carrot-top.

As he thought this, the double doors that formed the entrance of the meeting room banged open as though a whirlwind had blown in; that might have well been the case.

"What's up you bunch of fuckers?!" Nnoitra cried, his customary wide grin in place as he stepped in, making his way to his seat beside Stark, "Did I miss much?"

"I should think not," Szayel answered him coldly as the doctor entered after the tall, thin, skeleton of a man, "Considering that they couldn't have started without us."

"Yeah, we couldn't," Grimmjow snarled, "So where the fuck were you guys?"

"I was working," Szayel replied, his tone just as icy as before, "Unlike certain others in this room I find myself happily employed beyond service to Aizen."

"You son of a _bitch_-"

"I don't have an excuse," Nnoitra interrupted Grimmjow, "I just took my time getting here,"

"Just sit down and shut up," the blue haired man commanded disgustedly; Nnoitra replied by sticking out his tongue to reveal the number five that was tattooed there, and remained standing. Grimmjow noticed this obvious implication about their difference in status and stood, slamming his hands onto the table top with a growl rising in his throat.

"Alright everyone, settle down," a calm voice flowed amongst the anger and relative chaos in the room, drawing everyone's attention to the man who stood in the doorway, flanked by his two top officers; he was smiling, but his brown eyes were cold enough to freeze vodka, "Have a seat, Grimmjow, Nnoitra,"

The two sat promptly, without so much of a word in the direction of their boss as he took a seat at the head of the table with a coffee mug in hand. Tousen sat to the left of the dark haired man, but Gin remained standing to the right and slightly behind Aizen's high-backed chair.

"I am pleased to let everyone know that the information I sought for so long is, at last, found," the man announced, "Though it took rather longer than I would have liked. I hope that there will not be such slip-ups in the future, Ulquiorra, Zommari… or I will have to think of a punishment for you, hm?"

No one made any sort of reply, holding their peace. Aizen seemed to be in one of his _moods_…. He would jump from times when fury bubbled beneath his calm exterior, to being genuinely benevolent in a matter of seconds on days like these.

"Yes. Well, I know exactly what I want, exactly what I _need_ now… I can almost _see_ the corpses strewn in the street, people struck down where they stood… but, there is, most unfortunately, an obstacle."

"What, like, the government?" Nnoitra coughed, looking almost uneasy.

"As a matter of fact, no, Nnoitra Gilga," Aizen replied coldly, without even looking in the other man's direction, "It is not the government. They won't be a problem if I can get what I need."

"Good guess though," Gin smiled his foxes' grin across the table at Nnoitra, who simply narrowed his eyes in reply, as if not quite sure if he was being mocked or not. Gin seemed to have that effect on people.

"What, then," Ulquiorra asked, no inflection in his tone to indicate that it was a question at all, "is enough of an obstruction that you would bring it up here?"

"Ah, asking the right questions," Aizen looked pleased, "I mention because you people at this table are my eyes and ears, my hands and feet, my shield and my sword. I rely on you to get things done when I ask, and when that fails, I do things on my own. But I'd rather it not come to that, because if you all were to fail I'd go into the field on my own only after walking on a carpet made up of your corpses."

There was a silence in the room during which there was only heard a light rustle as Aaroniero shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"But back to the original question as to what it is. You've all met the two of them at least once, the most familiar with them being Louisenbairn and Nnoitra, yes?" the dark eyed man at the head of the table confirmed. Understanding lit in Nnoitra's eyes, and his sick grin twisted wider, "Ggiovanni Vega and Tesla Lindocruz; not overly significant on their own, but they've got big ambitions. They've gotten underfoot more than once, and I've tried to be forgiving, but…"

"So you want us to get rid of them?" Stark yawned, rubbing a knuckle into his eye to get the sleep out.

"I'm getting to that, Stark," Aizen replied, still looking fairly pleased despite the frigidity of his gaze, turning those icy eyes on the man at the very far end of the table away from him, "Aaroniero,"

The dark haired man twitched at his name and looked up sharply, eyes widening slightly with what could have either been anxiety or surprise.

"Yes?"

"Vega and Lindocruz live in a bar in the older part of town with the younger of the Lindocruz siblings and two other women if my sources are to be trusted. I want you to go, watch them, and learn their habits. Then, when you deem it appropriate, go to Nnoitra."

"What?" the thin man in question's smile dropped a bit in his confusion.

"When Aaroniero goes to you, don't question him. Go to the bar and kill everything inside, civilian or otherwise, do you understand?" Aizen looked deadly serious but somehow amused, as if he was in on some personal joke with the whole scenario.

"Of course!" Nnoitra's twisted smile replaced itself, just as wide as before and full of excitement as he looked back at the disguise artist at the end of the table, "Don't you keep me waiting Aarie!"

"Fuck off," the other man suddenly snapped, his knuckles whitening as he clenched his fists.

"Ah, you switched over to Niero then?"

"Whether or not I keep you waiting isn't my problem," Aaroniero bit out, still under the influence of his secondary persona, "I'll be doing my job no matter how long it takes, and you'll have to deal with it."

"Watch your tongue if you want to keep it in your mouth," Nnoitra growled as the other man's eyes cleared with his next blink.

"Ah, sorry," he replied, looking both more calm and nervous at the same time; he had switched back. There was a sigh from two or more places at the table as everyone expressed their frustration with their companion's inconvenient personality quirks.

"You really should try and keep Niero under control," Yammy muttered, "He's gonna get you killed."

"I understand."

"Well," Aizen began again, regaining his feet, "As for the rest of you, now that you're up to speed we can safely assume that you know what you're doing. Get your orders from Gin or Tousen for a while. Aaroniero, Nnoitra, Louisenbairn, come with me if you would,"

"Like we could refuse," Aaroniero mumbled, getting up.

"Was there even a _reason_ for us to come?" Ggrimjow grumbled, "Seriously, nothing new happened!"

"He was checking on us," Ulquiorra answered him quietly so that only the blue-eyed man could hear, "For signs of disloyalty or betrayal."

"Oh. Well shit,"

"Hm,"

"We'll have to be careful from now on," Grimmjow pointed out, causing Ulquiorra to sigh.

"Obviously, dimwit. That's why he set Aaroniero around the bar, to make it so we couldn't react or tip anyone off. It would have made more sense to just send Nnoitra, but he didn't do that."

"Talking about something interesting?" Szayel asked suddenly, leaning across the table with a grim smile.

"Ah, not particularly," Grimmjow grunted, pushing his chair back away from the table, "I was talking to Ulquiorra after all. Don't get much fulfillment from those. But I got places to be, so later bastards,"

Ulquiorra stood silently and followed Stark and Tia out of the room, face stony, but mind racing. No matter what solution he picked, if he followed it to the end in his mind, it all met at the same point.

Ggiovanni and Tesla were on their own for now. The only way around that would be to compromise his and the woman's safety.

That, he could not do. He could only hope that Grimmjow didn't do something stupid.

So the others would have to make it on their own.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Heeey guys! WELL here is the next chapter, pretty far in advance; this is taking the place of the typical Saturday update, because I figured you guys would rather have the chapter a day early than a week late. I assure you, this chapter is not as pointless, or as short as the last one; I really hope everyone enjoys it, and I promise I'll do my best not to die while evangelizing down in Mexico. Although, if I do die I have travel insurance. If that's any consolation to anyone. Which I doubt.**

** But I digress. Regardless, drop a review if you have the time, your feedback is greatly appreciated, and thank you for sticking with me all this time!**

Curiosity About the Cat

Soi Fon was nestled comfortably in her bed, sprawled atop her blankets in full dress, her shoes kicked off to the side. She heard the soft jingle of Mao's collar, his weight bowing the edge of the mattress as he jumped up, nestling against her ribs. She ignored him, her mind enveloped in her own thoughts.

Ggio was strange, hard to figure out. He'd been very odd around her lately, not that his awkward, crude humor had gone away, or that he'd changed any of his mannerisms, but it felt _different_… almost like he was really paying attention to her. That feeling might have been aided by the fact that on more than one occasion, she'd found his eyes on her. When he noticed that she had seen him staring, his thoughtful, almost brooding face would break into a somewhat sheepish grin and he'd look away, but it didn't change the fact that he'd been looking, after all. What for?

And of course, he was being oddly lazy; she would have thought that once they had gotten Yoruichi back he would be chomping at the bit to get back to the museum and take the jewels, but he hadn't mentioned it even once. When she brought it up he had brushed it off and changed subjects- but not before making uneasy eye-contact with Tesla.

She sighed and rolled over onto her side, scrunching her eyes shut as rich afternoon sunlight hit her full in the face from a gap between the curtains. So much for her nap, now she was _blind_. She sat up, blinking furiously to try and rid herself of the brilliant neon-teal and pink splotches that had burned themselves into her corneas. Her movement upset Mao, who jumped off the bed with a sharp mewl and barreled away toward Ggio's room. In an instant Soi Fon realized that Ggio's bedroom door was probably open at this time of day, and if Mao got out into the hall he would almost certainly be found by Tesla.

She jumped of her bed and pelted after the wayward kitten despite her semi-blindness, sliding into Ggio's room on her socks in time to see the tip of the gray tabby's tail disappear beyond the door. She rounded the corner, hissing useless commands as she did so.

"Mao!" she whispered fiercely, desperately trying to catch him, "Mao, get your furry ass over here! Do you _want _to get us both thrown out?!"

Of course there was no point to asking the cat that question. Not only did he not understand her, but even if he had he would have ignored her in typical feline fashion; Soi Fon had noticed that Mao, Ggio, and Yoruichi seemed to share the same attitude.

The cat turned and looked at her from the very top step, pausing for a second and blinking at her with his amber eyes. Soi Fon silently willed him to stay where he was, but to no avail; as she reached forward to grab him he dashed between her legs and back toward Ggio's room, bumping into the woman's legs as he went. She flailed wildly and realized that she was already hopelessly overbalancing. It was too late to catch herself, so she sucked in a breath as she began to fall.

There were multiple, rapid impacts as Soi Fon tumbled down the stairs, and then a weightless, endless feeling as she seemed to drift, eyes closed before the final, consciousness-shattering impact.

…..

Ggio hummed quietly to himself in Tesla's office, thumbing through the month's paperwork without any real drive as he stood before the desk. The blonde was in the kitchen getting ready for the night, but Ggio had something to talk to him about… not that the black haired man could remember any more. It might have been about the night's work as a bouncer and… oh yeah, the familiar-looking creep who had been lurking around lately. Ggio put the papers down, scratching his head as he tried to remember where he had seen the man. He rarely forgot a face, and something in the pit of his stomach told him there was something _off_ about the person.

Suddenly, from the front room there came a rapid series of muffled thuds, followed up by a larger _bang_; in the blink of an eye Ggio's hand whipped behind his back to grasp his gun, pulling it free of his waistband where he had been keeping it as of late due to his increasing paranoia, and held it close to his hip as he slowly opened the office door. Expecting God-knew-what, he was more shocked than anything when he saw Soi Fon lying in a motionless heap at the foot of the stairs, her body stretched at a strange angle and her braids trailing behind her like streamers of pitch.

All previous caution forgotten, Ggio rushed out of the room, hastily shoving his gun back in place. What had happened? Had someone gotten into the bar and done something to her? Was she hurt? What would he do if she was? Who knew? He sure as hell didn't but he was acting on instinct, his body driving him to be at her side. His rationale took over as he drew near to her prone form, his eyes flicking to the top of the stairs; there was no movement whatsoever, and Menoly was out of the house with Yoruichi for the time being. So how….?

Ggio crouched near Soi Fon's head and touched his hand to her throat. She was still breathing, still warm, but… unconscious. What the hell was he supposed to do about that?

"Hey," he called, cradling her head in his lap while patting the woman's cheek awkwardly in an attempt to wake her up, "Hey, bee, rise and shine. Come on,"

When she still didn't stir he grew a great deal more concerned.

"Tesla!" he called loudly, causing the blonde to fully exit the kitchen where he had been, most apparently, loading a 9mm just in case; it seemed he was just as on edge as Ggio, but had reacted to the desperation in his friend's voice all the same.

"What is it?" the one-eyed man asked, crossing the room and tucking the small gun back into its concealed holster, "Is she alright?"

"She fucking_ better _be," Ggio cried, sounding on the borderline of panic.

"Alright, alright, calm down… she's still alive, and I don't see any blood… do you think she fell down the stairs?" the blonde wondered, looking up the double flight of hardwood steps.

"That… would actually explain a lot," the shorter of the two men replied, sounding slightly calmer, "Except why she fell in the first place."

"Maybe she was sleepy? Or she could have just slipped I suppose," the barmaster reasoned, "She is in her socks after all, and the wood is slippery."

"Maybe…" Ggio didn't seem convinced, but he dropped the issue, "But anyways, I don't think she has a concussion or anything. I guess I'll take her back to her bed…?"

"Mm…" Tesla ran his hand through his hair nervously, looking almost as anxious and lost as Ggio, "I'm not sure what else we could do for her… I mean, if she knocked herself out I suppose we have to wait for her to wake up on her own. I remember reading somewhere that you're not supposed to wake people up if they've been knocked unconscious by a head injury."

"And if… she doesn't… wake up on her own?" Ggio said this slowly, apprehensively, willing the worst not to happen.

"We'll call an ambulance," Tesla said seriously, "But we'll give her until tomorrow morning to come around. Until then, just stay with her in case she wakes up disoriented."

With that, Tesla walked away, leaving Ggio to carry the slender, deadweight woman up the stairs on his own.

…..

Ggio had a long time to think after that, just sitting at Soi Fon's bedside like he was. Worry throbbed constantly like whitenoise in the back of his mind, scrambling his thoughts, but he tried to push it away, eventually giving up the pursuit. The one time he had to get his thoughts in order, he couldn't do it, but what else was he going to do to pass the time? And that guy who had been around the bar recently… that thin thread of thought stirred his anxiety, causing a slight tightening in his chest. Why? Where had he seen that man before? He didn't know, he couldn't remember….

He heaved a sigh and considered going downstairs for a drink when night began to fall, but thought better of it. Soi Fon obviously had an issue with his love of alcohol… not like her opinion would get him to stop completely, but the last thing she was going to need when she woke up was to have her room smelling like beer. Instead, Ggio turned to stare out the window at the rapidly darkening sky, streaks of dusky gold shooting through deepening purple, stars glittering through the clouds like a handful of diamond dust had been thrown into the air. It was beautiful, and not entirely lost on him, but he gazed mostly without seeing. It was only something to look at.

Ggio turned his attention back to the woman on the bed; he had pulled the blankets over her a while ago, because her fingers had been cold when he had reached for her hand. Her pale, slender fingers contrasted sharply with his darker, rougher digits against the cream colored sheets. Her dark braids were coiled beside her, and her cheeks were slightly flushed in her doll-like repose. She was beautiful, not entirely lost on him, and he gazed with an almost painful longing. She was only something to look at. Off limits, untouchable, not to be his. He felt that he had pushed his luck by keeping her by his side when he had been sick, but he hadn't been able to help it. He wanted her to stay.

Just as he felt like he might be crushed by the wave of combined anxiety, desire, confusion, and helplessness, when he felt that maybe he'd go for that drink after all and consequences be damned if only for that small pleasure, Soi Fon woke up.

…

Tesla stood behind the bar, his mixer placed on the wooden surface beside him as he watched the milling about of his customers in the taproom. Many were talking, exchanging stories and jokes amongst themselves, so there wasn't much for him to do; not many people have placed special orders, preferring for a safer, bottled drink with a familiar flavor in most cases. Tesla felt rather useless, just standing there and collecting pay, but he supposed it was better than being overworked.

For a while he had caught his gaze wandering to a lone man sitting in the back corner, seeming to talk to himself over his drink. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and an even darker demeanor that was very familiar, but very vague. He couldn't pinpoint it, but the man made him uneasy. Even as he was pondering this, he heard a slight jingling coming from the doorway of the kitchen. He looked up, and his single brown eye locked on a silver tabby with a red collar standing in the doorway; there was cat in his kitchen. A _cat_ in his _kitchen_. Why?

"What in the…" Tesla muttered, stepping after the animal as it raised its tail and sauntered deeper into the room like it owned the place.

For some reason the animal reminded him a great deal of Ggio.

….

"Mm?" the dark haired woman wondered sleepily, looking disconcerted as she blinked her silvered eyes open, "What… why am I?"

"Soi Fon!" Ggio cried suddenly, his hand tightening around hers momentarily. She turned to look at him, startled.

"Huh?"

"Do you know who I am?" he asked, looking all at once completely lost, very worried, and mildly dazed.

"Obviously," the woman replied, blinking apprehensively, "Why?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he cried, holding up his hand and ignoring her question.

"Three, now why the hell are you asking me questions?" Soi Fon growled, beginning to get irritated. Her head was pounding with each beat of her heart, and she really didn't want to have to think.

"I'm not sure, that's what people do in movies when they're checking for concussions," Ggio replied miserably, letting go of her hand and leaning back in his chair, not taking his eyes off her, "But um, how do you feel? Like you have an aneurism or head trauma or anything?"

"I feel fine. My head hurts and I'm pretty sure I bruised my shoulder, but other than that I'm okay. Why are you looking at me like I'm on my deathbed?" Soi Fon blinked in surprise as Ggio leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees to look at her more closely.

"I was… worried," he said slowly, "Or scared…. Whichever you prefer."

"Scared? Over _what_?"

"I thought you were really hurt!" he cried, pushing upright once more as if he was restless, avoiding her gaze, "What was I supposed to think, with you lying at the bottom of the stairs like that…"

There was a pause when she didn't answer, and slowly, he turned to look her in the eye, nervously, like admitting that he had been concerned for her welfare was something shameful. She was simply staring at him, looking mildly surprised and slightly mollified.

"Well… I appreciate that," Soi Fon replied, a little bit stiffly. Her face was blank but her mind and heart were in turmoil. What did he mean he was scared when he thought she was hurt? And he had stayed by her side when she had been unconscious; he seemed to have figured out on his own that she had fallen down the stairs, but that was the least of her problems. Had he stayed with her out of a sense of obligation as thanks to her for staying with him when he had been sick? Or had he been genuinely worried?

"Um," Ggio cleared his throat, looking uneasy, and straightened the cuff of the long sleeve white shirt he was wearing, gaining his feet after a moment, "If you're okay, then I guess I'll just… go down and help Tesla?"

He turned to leave, shoulders tense as he did so, like he was nervous or upset for some reason. Soi Fon grabbed his wrist and pulled back, intending only to keep him where he was, and ask him why he had stayed, why he had bothered worrying, and to clear her own mind. She didn't want to go downstairs, but she didn't want to be alone either. However, as even the best laid plans of mice and men go astray, so did the quickly cobbled intentions of the dark haired woman; rather than simply halting Ggio in his tracks, she caught him off balance as he turned, and instead pulled him a great deal farther than she intended. He flailed for a moment before he overbalanced and had to catch himself on the side of the bed.

He breathed out slowly, the crisis of his impending doom by tripping passed, and slowly raised his eyes to check where he had landed, his ochre gaze traveling slowly from the cream colored sheets that were on the bed, up the tight black sweater Soi Fon had on and settled on her silvered-brown eyes. She was very close, their noses almost touching, the position he had fallen in leaving little room for either of them to move. She flushed, but didn't look embarrassed… and Ggio threw caution to the wind.

_Fuck it,_ he thought fiercely_, She's not just something I'm going to look at. If I get rejected, so be it, but I'll be damned if I don't take a chance on her._

He leaned forward further, hesitated for a second to view her reaction, and when she didn't move he closed the space between the, his lips brushing against hers. One of his hands slid over hers as he shifted into a more comfortable position while the other found its way into her short black hair, reveling in the feeling of its feathery touch.

Soi Fon didn't fight him, didn't push him away, didn't pull back and tell him to leave, but instead pressed back against him, kissing him with more passion than he had originally gone forward with; he could feel the warmth of her body, the thrum of blood in her veins, her breath as it quickened. She pulled away for a moment to look at him, looking slightly dazed before he broke the eye contact again and kissed the corner of her mouth. Her cheeks flushed worse than before, causing him to smirk a bit.

"Hey," he murmured, "Soi Fon, I-"

The door to the room banged open like a whirlwind, accompanied by an irritated shout of, "If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times Ggio, we _can't keep pets_-!"

The cry cut off quickly as Soi Fon pushed Ggio off her, the black haired man complying easily as he jumped off the bed guiltily, glancing at Tesla. The blonde man held Mao in his arms so that the cat's back legs dangled into empty space, the kitten didn't look upset at all; rather, the fact that there was tuna in his whiskers told Ggio that Tesla's soft spot for animals had won out and ended with him feeding the cat rather than throwing him out. However, the look on Tesla's face was absolutely shocked as his good eye darted between the other two in the room. He began to blush, his expression changing to one of extreme embarrassment as he began to backpedal, almost tripping over himself.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't- that is to say- I'm just going to, um…" the bartender stammered, beginning to close the door. Ggio's gaze flicked to Soi Fon, who looked positively mortified, deciding it would probably be best if he left the room. He grabbed the edge of the door before it closed.

"S'all right Tes," he replied smoothly, but without emotion, his eyes going back to her for a moment. He couldn't tell if she was angry, upset, or simply unsure of what she had just done, but he pulled the door back open anyways. He'd give her some time to think, not like he had a choice; staying now would be insensitive in a way, "It sounds busy downstairs, I'll go down and help out. And about that cat, you can just leave him in my room for now, we'll talk about it after."

"Um, y-yeah," Tesla stuttered, allowing himself to be ushered from the room by his shorter friend. Half way down the stairs Ggio turned and looked back at Soi Fon's bedroom door.

Had his decision been right or wrong? A good move or a reckless action? The look on her face hadn't said anything either way, but for some reason he thought that maybe she had felt pressured by him. Tesla returned to his side then, still looking startled, but not quite so shocked anymore.

"You lied," Tesla said, without accusation in his voice, "When you said it sounded busy; you know it's not crowded tonight."

"Mm," Ggio replied vaguely, "I'm a liar by nature."

"I don't think that's true," the blonde answered quietly, "I think you're a lot more honest than you think you are. A better man that you think you are."

"Thanks Tes," Ggio smirked, looking tired, "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm a massive idiot."

Tesla said nothing to that, only looking down at his friend before heaving a sigh.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Alright everyone, I deeply apologize; I feel like a terrible human being for making you all wait this long for this short of a chapter… I'm sorry…. After my trip I got sick and I had to catch up on school work and softball season started and all that crap sort of snowballed so I didn't have time to write! I'll go commit seppuku now… **

Liftoff 

"Awkward,"

"Very much so, yes," Tesla replied, disgruntled, to his company, which consisted of Yoruichi, Kisuke and Sungsun. The drugstore owning blonde had been the first one to speak after Tesla had finished regaling them with the tale of his blunder over breakfast.

"So…. You just walked in on them? Seriously?" Yoruichi asked, looking both appalled and like she was on the verge of bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Ugh… yes," the one eyed man groaned, burying his face in his hands at the memory.

"And they were kissing on the bed…" Kisuke said slowly, "Well, at least we know those idiots have made _some_ progress,"

"Hm?" Sungsun wondered quietly, fidgeting with the hem of her long, draping blouse.

"Well, we'll put it this way," Yoruichi explained to the other woman with a sigh, "The only ones who didn't notice what was going on between the two was them, because they are both fairly thick when it comes to that sort of thing, I guess,"

"I see," the pale woman murmured thoughtfully before looking at Tesla, "But I don't see why it should bother you so much,"

"Well- because, I mean- it's just that things like that are private!" the blonde cried, looking up; his face was slightly flushed as he did so, indicating his ongoing embarrassment.

"Oh," Sungsun replied, leaning forward until she was very close to her boyfriend, "I was wondering, since we've done far worse things behind closed doors, but… you've always been very shy,"

Tesla's light blush turned bright red at her comment, and his good eye flicked to where Kisuke and Yoruichi sat, sniggering at his reaction. Sungsun took the opportunity to kiss him on the cheek with a light smile.

"So shy," she repeated as the dark skinned woman and her blonde companion finally released their pent-up laughter, Yoruichi holding her sides and almost falling from her chair; Kisuke caught her and pushed her upright, though he too was having trouble wiping the wide grin he wore from his face.

"Who would have thought," he snorted, "The punk-looking one-eyed blonde is a huge softie!"

"That was no secret," Sungsun giggled.

"Oh, shut up, all of you," Tesla sulked for a moment, sipping his coffee before rejoining the conversation as he noticed something, "But as far as them making progress, Kisuke, I think you might be wrong on that,"

"Huh?"

The one eyed man directed the group's attention to the stairs by indicating with his chin; the rest of the people occupying the table turned to see Ggio sauntering down the stairs in jeans and a red tee shirt. He flashed a wide, earnest grin to Soi Fon, raising his hand in a gesture of greeting. The woman, who had been standing by the entrance to the kitchen whipped around and disappeared into the other room without so much as a smirk. The group's eyes flashed back to the man, still standing on the bottom step in his socks, his smile gone and a look of mingled surprise, defeat and sorrow in his eyes. They watched him heave a sigh before clearing his face and straightening back up, heading over to where the others sat.

"Morning all," he greeted, sounding a great deal less upbeat than he had looked as he had bounced down the stairs. He dragged a chair to the already overcrowded table and sat down without invitation, throwing one arm over the crosspiece of the chair and kicking his feet up onto the tabletop.

"Well speak o' the devil," Kisuke grinned at the dark haired man, who echoed the smile less than enthusiastically, "We were just having a conversation about you!"

"Ooh, I bet," Ggio muttered, scratching the back of his head with his free hand as he tipped his chair back a bit further.

"Not in a bad way, Black Jack, it's just that Captain and the rest of us were hoping you'd made some progress with Soi Fon, yeah?" Yoruichi soothed, only to be met with a derisive snort and a glare.

"You all saw that. Does it fucking _look_ like I've made progress with her?" Ggio asked sarcastically.

"You should try talking to her," Sungsun suggested; Ggio's ochre stare swung to gaze at the second woman at the table.

"Pretty hard job when she keeps making like fucking Usain Bolt every time I walk into a room!" he snapped, "She's impossible!"

"She's just embarrassed is all," Yoruichi laughed, "If you'd believe it, Soi Fon's more of a softie than Tesla."

"I beg your pardon?" Tesla coughed, spluttering on his drink as Sungsun laughed beside him.

"Yeah, she probably just doesn't know what to do with herself. Track her down if you have to, but make sure it's a place where you two can _talk_," the violet haired woman emphasized as Kisuke sipped from his drink, trying to look sage and failing miserably.

Ggio only shook his head ill-temperedly and fiddled with the end of his braid for a moment.

"If you don't get up and try to talk to her I'll tip your chair over," Kisuke threatened.

"Sure, Hitchhiker," the irritable ochre-eyed man growled, ignoring the warning. The blonde across the table removed his hat calmly, and in one smooth movement swept his leg under the table in such a way that it unbalanced Ggio's chair.

"Shit!" the black haired cried, flailing as his seat was knocked from under him; he laid still for a moment on the hard wooden floor, his ears ringing from the blow his head had been dealt, before he sat up wincing. He shot a look of dull fury to the man who had caused his fall as he picked himself up, dusting off his jeans with one hand, "I should have left you on the side of the highway. Or better yet in a prison cell."

"I did tell you," Kisuke smiled wanly, "Now go talk to her."

Ggio flipped his middle finger up at the blonde and stalked away, not in the direction that the black haired woman had disappeared to, but back to his own room.

"Brilliantly done, asshole," Yoruichi commented mildly, raising her eyebrows at her companion as Tesla sighed heavily and Sungsun watched in confusion.

"Any time," Uruhara replied, sipping from his drink once more.

….

Ggio sat, sulking, on the end of his bed; Mao had shot out from beneath his bed upon his return, leaping into the lap of the man who occupied the room. The cat, allowed to remain by softhearted consent of Tesla, was now nestled in the brooding man's lap, purring so loudly that the whole bed was vibrating, Ggio's fingers running through the feline's fur as thoughts ran through his head.

Yoruichi said Soi Fon was embarrassed? Yeah right, more like she was mortified. If she was so self-conscious that she couldn't even bear the sight of him then how would their relationship advance? Come to think of it, what _was _their relationship? He thought it would be safe to say they were more than business partners, but more than friends? Maybe not in her eyes, maybe she had just been fooling around with him… after all, God knew he'd done that often enough, just played around without any real feeling.

There would be no way to know how she felt but to ask her, but did he want to know the answer? If she said that she didn't feel anything for him, if she said that it was better off the way it was…. He could handle that, he thought. But leaving things ambiguous, uncertain…. He had to draw a line.

As much as he hated to admit it, the peanut gallery downstairs had been right, and he needed to talk to Soi Fon.

Scooping Mao off his lap, Ggio stood and plucked cat hairs off his shirt, opening his door but feeling as if he were going to his own execution.

…..

Soi Fon inhaled slowly, held her breath, then released after a moment, standing on her own in the kitchen and wanting to punch a hole in the wall. She tried to control what was becoming a blush and knew she was failing, but tried anyway.

Who did Ggio think he was, smiling at her so casually after what had happened between them! Of course for that man-whore it probably wasn't that big a deal, probably nothing more than what he did with every _other_ woman he had ever run across, but to her- to her-!

The woman buried her face in her hands at the memory, almost ashamed of her reaction to the contact with Ggio; he had leaned forward and then hesitated, as if he had wanted to pull back, but she had forced herself on him… he probably wanted to forget the whole thing, but it was a moment that she cherished…. Was that wrong of her?

There was the light tapping of footsteps outside the door and she whirled to see Ggio standing in the doorway looking determined. She felt the blood drain from her face at the sight of him and spun on her heel to escape. She couldn't talk to him now, she _couldn't_, but she knew she had to-!

"Soi Fon, wai-"

Before she knew what she was doing she had gone out the back door. What the hell was wrong with her? She was no coward! But now she couldn't even stand in the face of a man who wasn't even a threat! She was acting like a fool!

Soi Fon forced herself to a halt and stood behind the bar, her chest heaving and cheeks flushed, watching the door. She wasn't sure how she knew, maybe it had been the look on his face, but she had known he would follow her.

The back door flew open and Ggio rushed out, hopping on one foot as he struggled to tug on one untied tennis shoe, as if he had been expecting her to have run half a block away by that point. Upon seeing her still in the back alley, he stopped his hurried effort and instead advanced on her, almost angrily. The dark haired woman backpedaled as he got closer, despite her resolve; upon actually facing him she found that she was weaker than she had originally thought.

Soi Fon bumped her elbow and turned slightly to see that she had backed herself right up against a wall. Ggio had noticed as well, but he didn't seem bothered. On the contrary, he was intent on keeping her in place; the woman's eyes widened, her breath catching as the man placed his hands against the wall on either side of her head to keep her still, leaning forward to hold her eye contact. Gold grated against silvered brown as their sights clashed, each trying to get a grasp on the other's intents. There was a long silence before Ggio finally gave a small sigh, preparing to speak.

"Look, Soi Fon…" he began, "I'm going to say something that I probably should have a while back; no matter how you reply, I'll be okay, so you don't need to hold back. Say the word and we can cut all ties right here and work strictly on a business basis… but…. I love you."

Soi Fon stood stock still, her mind whirling. She couldn't believe what she was hearing here, that the wild, childish, confident, moody, alcohol-loving lech Ggiovanni Vega was confessing his love for her. Too late did she notice that she had allowed the silence to stretch as Ggio waited for an answer. She met his eyes, seeing a crushed defeat there as he backed off, lifting his hands away from the wall.

"I see," he said lowly with a strained smile, "Not even worth an answer then. Well, alright, if that's how it is. Sorry to have bothered you like this… past this point I'll be strictly hands off. Sorry."

Ggio turned away, his shoulders stiff as if he was trying too hard to appear put-together as he began to leave; before he had even taken half a step, Soi Fon recognized the ghost of opportunity trying to get away and refused to let things fall apart. She lunged forward in a strange repeat of the scene in her room and grabbed the collar of Ggio's shirt, spinning him around and dragging him down to her level. She pressed her lips against his forcefully, almost glaring at his shocked face as she did so before allowing him to pull back for air.

"I- what- but you-"

"Oh, just shut up and accept the fact that I'm not rejecting you," Soi Fon muttered, pulling him back into a kiss.

…

Some time later Yoruichi peeked through the curtains of the back window, leaning back to yell at the rest of the group.

"The idiots have achieved liftoff,"

"Hallelujah," Tesla muttered.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Sorry this is late again; I'm starting to think I am kind of an unreliable person? But regardless, I really don't have much to say about this chapter, just that I made myself sad while writing it?**

End of Days

It was late afternoon when Aaroniero came to call, and Nnoitra was engaged in doing quite a lot of nothing; he was bullying his subordinates, of course, but at the time that the schizophrenic mask-maker arrived he wasn't actively torturing, demeaning, or dehumanizing any of his followers. In fact, he was simply lounging around in the room reserved for him and his aides, the room on the fifth floor of the Las Noches building, flipping a pocketknife through the air and catching it by the blade, following the weapon's trajectory with his single, narrow eye. His customary grin was gone from his face, replaced with a blank look of sheer boredom, and he thought that if nothing exciting happened soon he might go out and kill more than time, just for the heck of it.

Something _did _happen however, and the door to his room swung open after a very clipped-sounding knock. The few people under Nnoitra's jurisdiction who happened to be in the room had various reactions to the opening of the door, some flinching at the _bang_ made by the doorknob hitting the wall, others twisting around with weapons at the ready, but Nnoitra simply stood with a sneer as his dichotomized coworker let himself into the room.

"Nnoitra," Aaroniero greeted curtly, with a sharp, jerky nod. He was tense, almost twitchy; it was possible that he had been shooting drugs before he came, but unlikely. He was simply wound up, Nnoitra thought, excited.

"Well?" the taller of the two men snapped after a pause, not bothering to return the greeting, "Are you ready? What did you find out? How soon can I go?"

"Patience," the dark haired disguise-master replied smoothly, "May I sit down?"

"Do what you want," Nnoitra answered, "Just hurry the fuck up."

Aaroniero gave his companion a wan smile and took his seat deliberately, his eyes on Nnoitra's face the whole time, taunting the other man with his silence; he knew the one-eyed man was eager for blood, knew that he was very nearly going crazy with anticipation, and at last Aaroniero decided not to torment him any longer.

"I watched them for a long time," the informant began, running a hand through his short, dark hair, "I learned their habits and their patterns, and none of them noticed me. Or if they did, they did not recognize me for who I am. I am very good at hiding my face."

"Don't I know it," Nnoitra muttered.

"They don't stick strictly to any schedule, but they seem wary; they go out little, and for the most part, four of the five living in the bar stay in the building during the day. If they go out, it's at night, so I suggest a strike at dusk, or maybe a bit past noon. Either time is fine. As to how soon you can go, as soon as you're ready," Aaroniero smirked as a wide grin spread across Nnoitra's face at the news, the tall man spinning in his chair to look at his men.

"You hear that, fuckers?" he crowed to his subordinates, "There'll be blood soon! Plenty of it, plenty soon,"

The ensuing cheers left Aaroniero struggling to stifle an insane grin of his own.

…..

The bar was relatively quiet; Tesla was back in his office, Menoly was up in her room, and Yoruichi was out on a date with Kisuke. The only ones out in the taproom were Soi Fon, who was trying to read, and Ggio, who was doing his best to make her stop.

"Soi Fon~" he dragged out the syllables of her name as he leaned in close to her, his braid swinging behind him, the strands around his face coming loose and hanging in his eyes, "Come on, look this way…"

"Too close," the woman reprimanded as her companion very nearly touched her cheek with his nose. Rather than backing off he, closed the distance further, turning his head to press his cheek against hers; she could feel his grin as he noticed her stiffen at their proximity.

"What do you mean, 'too close'?" he laughed quietly, "You didn't exactly have a problem before, now did you?"

Soi Fon didn't answer, her eyes trained on the pages of her book, though for all her efforts she wasn't taking in any of the words. How could she, when Ggio was going out of his way for her attention. Exasperated, she snapped her novel shut.

"You're really distracting," she grumbled at the ochre-eyed man, unwilling to turn in his direction. He pushed up against her playfully, his smile widening.

"Who, me? Never," he protested sarcastically as she leaned into him to avoid being knocked off her chair.

"Ggio!" Soi Fon cried, smothering her laughter as the man suddenly stopped putting pressure on her, causing her to tumble into his lap.

"What?" he asked, mockingly innocent despite the wild light in his eyes as he ran his fingers through the shorter part of her hair; his lilting smile reappeared, no longer able to be suppressed as he looked down at her.

"Well, aren't you two cozy," another voice joined from the top of the stairs, and the pair glanced up to see Menoly leaning over the railing, smirking at them. Soi Fon flushed, but didn't move, and Ggio only chuckled.

"Cozy indeed, little sis. Jealous?"

"Not particularly," the blonde woman dismissed, traipsing her way down the steps, "After all, I distinctly remember you crushing the air out of me when we were younger, Ggio-nii; I've been way too close to you a few times before, yeah?"

"I remember too," Ggio snorted with amusement, "Are you referring to the time I sat on you after you cut my bangs while I was asleep?"

"Yup," the blonde had reached the bottom of the stairs, her fingers looped through the chain of a silver crucifix that was almost always hidden beneath the collar of Tesla's shirt; Menoly caught Ggio looking at it and grinned, almost sheepishly, "The thing was tarnished, so I took it from him to clean it."

"Such a caring girl," Ggio smirked, "Cleaning her brother's jewelry."

"Well, you know…. Tes is always really busy, so I figured I'd do it. It's nice and clean now, see-"

For a moment Soi Fon thought the world had exploded as Menoly's words cut off in the hideous, shuddering sound of rapid gunfire and the shriek of shattering glass. Ggio, acting instinctively, wrapped himself around the woman who had been draped across him as he threw the both of them to the floor; he pushed the table over as they fell, using it as a barricade as shards of glass and wood splintered through the air. Soi Fon gasped as they hit the floor, in mingled shock, horror and pain, her elbow jarring against the hard wood. She felt Ggio shift over her, pulling his gun from its hidden holster and placing his hand on top of her head to keep her low.

"Fuck," she heard him mutter, blood streaked glass tinkling to the floor almost musically; the dark haired woman glanced up to see her companion pull another piece of glass from his forearm with a thin slithering sound as it left his flesh crimson running over his wrist.

The firing continued, deafeningly loud in comparison to the companionable silence that had been enjoyed only moment earlier. The front windows were destroyed, the front door hanging off its hinges and falling into splinters under the rain of bullets; the heady scent of gunsmoke was almost intoxicating. Soi Fon allowed herself a look over where Menoly had been standing and promptly turned away, feeling sick filled with sorrow.

The pretty young blonde had been blown nearly to pieces, having been in the direct line of fire when the shooting had started. Her blood was soaking over the dark wooden boards beneath her, staining them red, red like her skin, like her clothes, like her hair. The woman had been practically bathed in the color, riddled with black holes and random patches of white where shattered bone pierced through her flesh. The only consolation Soi Fon could take from looking at the body was that Menoly couldn't have felt much in her dying moments; her life would have ended in seconds, her body having been filled with that much lead in so short a time.

A short distance away, she could see the silver crucifix glittering in a pool of cerise fluid.

"Ggio," Soi Fon took a shuddering breath as she spoke, her words hardly audible as she turned back to him, "Ggio, Menoly's-"

"Don't say it," the ochre-eyed man commanded, his voice hard, "Just don't. I already know. And these bastards are gonna pay for it."

Even as Soi Fon opened her mouth to say something else- she wasn't quite sure what, not when the world was going insane like it was- there came a wild, grief-stricken cry from behind them. The pair turned, Ggio having just fired a couple of return shots, to see Tesla stumbling from where he had been in the back room, his single eye fixed where his sister lay like a broken doll. The blonde man staggered forward disbelievingly, his gun forgotten in his hand, heedless of the bullets still coming through the window.

"Menoly," he was moaning, "Ah, God no, Menoly, Menoly…."

"Tesla, don't!" Ggio cried as Soi Fon pushed herself into sitting position, hissing as a sliver of glass sliced across her palm; she watched, helpless as Tesla took a bullet to his thigh, his knees buckling for an instant before he lurched forward again, intent on nothing but reaching his fallen sibling, "You're going to get yourself killed!"

With that, Ggio ran at a crouch to where Tesla stood and wrapped his arms around the taller man's waist, dragging him away with strength Soi Fon didn't know he had. The blonde fought tooth and nail, struggling to get away from his friend, his cries rising in volume until Ggio shoved him up against the bar and waved Soi Fon over; the bar was thicker than the table they had been bunking behind, made of granite rather than wood, but even that seemed as fragile as matchsticks under the now greatly-slowed volley of bullets.

Soi Fon winced as Tesla released a piercing, anguish-ridden shriek, his weapon dropping to the floor with a clatter; He tried to scramble away, back to where Menoly lay, and only Ggio's bulldog-tenacity held the blonde man in place; the one eyed man's fingernails were bleeding where they had lifted away from the skin in his wild attempt to claw himself from Ggio's arms.

"Let go of me!" he roared, "I have to help her! Don't you see her Ggio?! Menoly's-"

"Dead!" Ggio howled over the noise, tears in his eye and fury in his voice, "There's nothing you can do for her anymore Tesla, she's _dead_!"

The blonde froze, staring blankly at his friend before he began to heave racking, helpless sobs of shock and misery, and Ggio did something that neither he nor Soi Fon expected. He punched Tesla, hard.

Soi Fon blinked, almost startled through the crushing wave of emotion that was torpedoing through her in the home-turned-war-zone. The blow had shifted Tesla's already loose eye patch so that it had fallen away from his face, dropping around his neck like a strange piece of jewelry; the scaring on that side of his face was twisted, hard to look at so, so thick that the scar tissue had practically stitched his eyelids closed, leaving nothing but a blank expanse where his eye should have been.

"Get a hold of yourself! We don't have time to cry!" Ggio shouted despite the tears that were glittering in a fine gauze over his gold irises and spilling over onto his cheeks; Soi Fon recognized that the man was barely holding himself together despite his harsh words as she drew herself away from examination of Tesla's features, "Those motherfuckers killed her, Tesla! And they're going to kill us too if we don't do something! We can cry later, but now… we need to teach those sons of bitches what happens when they take one of us."

Tesla seemed not to hear at first, still touching his cheek where he had been hit, but after a moment he nodded, insane, empty fury building in his face. He picked up his gun from where it had fallen beside him and ratcheted out the magazine to check that there were bullets there, pressing on hand to the wound in his thigh.

"Yeah," the blonde said numbly, "Those bastards… they won't know what hit them. We'll tear them to pieces… _I'll_ tear them to pieces…"

"Good man," Ggio sniffed, wiping his own cheeks as he turned to look at Soi Fon, "Do you have anything to fight with?"

"Just this," the dark haired woman replied, holding out a knife that she had grabbed from the counter and looking at it in disappointment.

"Well… just keep yourself safe then. Tes and I will take care of this mess,"

As he said that, the already destroyed front door was knocked back on its hinges by a strong kick, and Soi Fon realized something; it was just the three of them fighting against whatever came through the opening. Here there would be no help from the police, from civilians, from anyone at all. Just them.

She heard Ggio hiss angrily, catlike, as the taproom was entered by a handful of armed men and women, ten in total. Soi Fon watched through a gap in the bar, careful not to move, hardly breathing as she did so; the people were not uniformed, standing in the room in normal everyday clothing. They would have looked like a mall-going party but for the artillery in their hands.

As one, Ggio and Tesla stood and fired into the small crowd before dropping back behind their shield, rewarded by pained screams and heavy thuds as a few of the group fell to the floor. A heavy barrage of bullets came in their direction, and they heard the granite crack. The black haired man glanced at Soi Fon, Tesla heaving almost hysterical breaths behind him, and the woman replied by raising two fingers.

'_Dead_,' she mouthed to him, then raised a single finger, '_Hurt_,'

Ggio closed his eyes and nodded, trying to slow his breathing.

"Are you all stupid?" a voice drawled, heavy footsteps following the question. Soi Fon watched Tesla seize up, Ggio's eyes shooting open in surprise at the sound, and she turned to look through the bullet-formed peephole she had been using. Her eyes widened as a very tall, lanky man ducked his way into the bar, a single, narrow eye sweeping the scene, "You fuckheads only got one of them, and they took out two of us."

"W-Well, we came in and didn't see anyone, but they're hiding behind the-" a man started.

"There are seven of you left-" the tall man said, his voice dangerously smooth before he was interrupted.

"Eight!" the wounded man on the floor panted, pushing himself up, "I can still-"

The tall man rolled his good eye, hefted the massive gun he held, and blew the injured man's brains out without so much as a wince or an apologetic look.

"Seven of you left," he continued as if nothing had happened, sweeping dark, oily hair out of his face, "And four of them at the most. And yet idiots couldn't figure out how to get around the little problem of smoking them out."

"Nnoitra, we just um… we…"

"Six," the man called Nnoitra called out, blowing holes in the chest of the woman who had spoke up, "I don't want excuses. Just tear the place apart and kill anything that moves."

With that, the group standing around their leader turned away and faced the bar warily, none of them wanting to take the lead in the charge.

"Nnoitra Gilga," Tesla breathed, "Why? Why him?"

"What?" Soi Fon whispered, looking at Ggio's pale, set face apprehensively.

"Oh, we're just pretty much fucked is all," the dark haired man replied with a humorless smirk, "But as long as we can take a good few of them with us, it should be okay, right?"

She watched as the man beside her shot upright, blowing a few more shots from his handgun before dropping back down, taking out two of the remaining six in the group, the bullet meant for the one called Nnoitra Gilga flying wide of its target. Tesla popped up half a second later and got off a few rounds as well, but not with nearly as much success; he only hit one man, in a nonfatal, but incapacitating blow.

Bullets were now whizzing over their heads, shattering bottles of alcohol and smashing chunks of granite out of the countertop with juddering force. Soi Fon thought she might be bleeding from the ears, but raised herself above the line of safety anyway and threw the knife in her hand in the way that her older brother had taught her- it was one of the only useful things she had learned as a child. The blade flew, and landed with a hearty _thwack_ in the right side of the throat of one of the men at the back of the group. She snarled, as she had been aiming at the man in front of and to the left of the man she had actually hit, but she had killed one of them all the same. A loud report went off beside her, and she dropped to the ground with a cry, a burning streak of pain lancing across her cheek.

"Hey!" Ggio cried, not even making the pretense of trying to hide anymore, "Soi Fon!"

"I'm alright," she gasped, picking herself up as blood poured from the grazing gouge on her face, "They didn't get me too badly."

"Shit, did I miss then? I'm getting a bit rusty I suppose," Nnoitra laughed, "But guess what? You can't hide back there anymore,"

The three behind the bar started as one of the two remaining men from the group appeared at the open end of the bar, his face pale and scared as he leveled the rapid-firing gun in his hand. There was no time to say anything, Soi Fon flipping herself over the bar almost instinctively, catching sight of Tesla out of the corner of her eye as he jumped as well, crumpling on his injured leg when they hit the ground. There was a blaze of gunfire behind them, a shout- The dark haired woman twisted around as Tesla squeezed a couple rounds in the direction of the last man who still stood by the door; she was praying, praying harder than she ever had in her life that Ggio was still alive… and with that, the object of her prayers dropped down right in front of her, blood streaked and panting hard, but still alive.

They couldn't rest easy yet, however, as Soi Fon was reminded when Tesla pushed himself unsteadily to his feet with a horrific snarl, tears welling in his eye once more.

"You killed her," he said, his voice shaking, as he stared at the tall man "You killed Menoly."

Nnoitra waved his last minion away casually, and the last surviving man from the original group broke, backing out the ruined front door before running away like his life depended on it. It probably did.

"Tesla Lindocruz," Nnoitra purred, his already wide smile stretching further, "You were always such a good boy… such an obedient pawn, always prepared to do anything for your sister, isn't that right? But _I _didn't kill her… not personally at least. It's a pity; I would have liked to have made her scream like the time I took her eye. Do you remember that?"

The tall, dangerous man by the door had begun walking forward, slowly, keeping his tone conversational. Soi Fon could see Tesla shaking like a leaf, but whether it was with suppressed fury or with fear was anyone's guess.

"You shut up," Tesla growled, not moving aside from keeping his aim pointed at Nnoitra.

"Ah, it was a sweet sound, that high, keening shriek she made as I tore open her face… but you cried too, didn't you? You cried tears of blood for her… will you do it again?"

"_You shut the fuck up_!"

The barrel of Tesla's gun dropped a fraction of an inch.

"Tesla, _MOVE_!" Ggio suddenly screamed, and Soi Fon saw what was going to happen a split second before it did; the blonde man half-turned, confused, and Nnoitra dropped his gun, drawing a knife so large it could have been considered a short sword from a hidden sheath strapped to his thigh with a _wicking_ sound. Using his long reach, the tall man lunged forward at the same time Ggio had shouted warning, ramming the blade through Tesla's exposed shoulder as the blonde lowered his gun in shock.

A small point of silver glittered through a new hole in Tesla's dirty white shirt, the tip of the blade showing exactly where the blade had exited. The one-eyed blonde swayed, a look of something that was less surprise than it was disappointment and apology. He made a brave attempt at a sad smile in Ggio's direction, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came forward was a gout of blood as Nnoitra jerked the blade back out of the man's body, planting a foot in his ribs to lever him off the metal he was impaled on. The kick to his side sent Tesla tumbling like a ragdoll to the floor where he lay still.

"How cute," Nnoitra laughed wildly, "The two siblings can stay together!"

Ggio simply stared, his face blank as if he could not comprehend what had just happened. Soi Fon sat at his side, equally stunned and not even able to react as her companion gained his feet slowly, deliberately, dangerously.

"You son of a bitch," the ochre eyed man grated out harshly at Nnoitra, "You motherfucking son of a _bitch_."

His tone was cold and level as he said this, no emotion tainting either his voice or his face as he took a step forward, his dark braid swinging behind him, and suddenly he was dashing forward, his gun forgotten on the floor. Soi Fon screamed at him as he barreled into the taller man like a cannon ball, carrying the both of them to the floor.

"That's right!" Nnoitra shrieked insanely as he pushed Ggio off his chest, "Fight with me Vega! Let me feel blood on my skin!"

The two grapplers writhed on the floor, and for an instant a picture of a barroom brawl superimposed itself over Soi Fon's sight, her mind trying to cope with what she was seeing. Ggio was on Nnoitra like a cat, his smaller size both an advantage and a drawback as he was continually shaken off by the larger man, continually slipping through Nnoitra's grip. Glass shards stood out like diamonds in the skin of both men, but neither seemed to notice. On the contrary, Nnoitra was laughing, even as Ggio slammed a fist into his face.

The knife in Nnoitra's hand was still kicking off sunflashes Soi Fon saw, and before she knew what she was doing she was starting forward as well, panic flooding through her as she watched the same blade that had killed Tesla streak across Ggio's calf. As she drew close Nnoitra rolled over, pushing Ggio off of him once more and pinning the smaller man to the floor despite the struggling.

Soi Fon grabbed the first thing that came to hand, a shard of what had once been a chair as Nnoitra swung his knife outward. The blade of that double-edged weapon grated across her ribs as she stepped forward, bringing the chair leg across the attacker's face like a baseball bat. Warm crimson washed down her side and she felt skin tear from her hands with the force of the blow she had given Nnoitra, but the taller man lost both his grip on the knife and his balance, giving Ggio enough time to scramble back out from under him.

Soi Fon watched as her companion went for Nnoitra's throat, his fingers pinching the man's windpipe closed and his short nails digging into the soft flesh hard enough to draw small crescents of blood. The tall man bucked under Ggio, tried to pry his fingers away from his airways, but Soi Fon could see that he was losing strength; Ggio, apparently impatient to end things, noticed something gleaming on his left. It was the gun that Nnoitra had dropped earlier.

Quick as a flash, and not even sure if the thing was loaded, Ggoi snatched the weapon up, and fired, point-blank into Nnoitra's face. There was a single spasm as the unnaturally thin man died, the same twitching movement seen when one decapitated an insect, and then no more movement.

But Ggio fired again.

And again.

And again.

…

"This is really good," Kisuke commented, dragging his tongue along an ice cream swirl that was perched atop his cone; he laughed and held the treat out of reach as Yoruichi swiped for it.

"Come on, let me have some!" the dark skinned woman complained playfully.

"You already ate yours! You're going to get fat," the blonde man joked, earning him a light hit to the arm as he handed his companion the ice cream. She bit the top off the swirl and then smiled up at him innocently. He leaned in close to her and kissed the corner of her mouth, "You had some on your face."

"Thank you, my noble opportunist," Yoruichi giggled, "But it's getting late… I should head home, or else Captain will probably start worrying like he usually does,"

"Guy's gonna end up giving himself a heart attack and dying young," Kisuke sighed, "But I gotta give him some credit, he's got all his stuff in order,"

"That he does," the violet haired woman agreed as the two began to walk back to the bar; she looped her arm through his and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Tired?" he wondered, poking her in the cheek with his free hand.

"A bit, but that's alright," Yoruichi smiled again, "I'm pretty sure being a bit tired is a worthy trade for getting to spend a day out with-"

The woman suddenly pulled up short, halting in her tracks and simply gazing ahead for a moment.

"What?" Kisuke wondered, following her line of sight. His murky-green eyes landed on the bar, or what used to be the bar. The sunset had turned the ruined, hole-filled walls red, the door hanging loosely from one hinge and swinging slightly in the breeze.

By unspoken agreement the two of them took off at run towards the destroyed building.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: FUUUUUUUUUU-! I'm SO sorry guys, it's just… midterms. They are a great evil that saps creative flow and destroys free time like an atomic bomb. But here's your chapter, like, more than a week late.**

**Also, (you may all hate me for this, I understand) I'll be going to Austin Texas for my spring break, and I'm not sure I'll be able to write or post while I'm there, but I shall return on the 5****th**** of April!**

**Thank you for your patience, and I apologize once more…**

Nightfall

The room was quiet. Quiet as the grave, one might say, a ringing silence that screamed just as loud in Soi Fon's ears as gunshots had before, a raving, maddening lack of sound that threatened to drive her out of her mind.

Ggio sat, his chest heaving, a smoking gun in his hand, atop what was left of the man who had been Nnoitra Gilga; the wild, ochre eyed man who looked to be on the brink of losing himself in the blood-drenched carnage he had created, had emptied the whole magazine of bullets into the head of the man who had destroyed his home and murdered his closest friends. Nnoitra was no longer recognizable, his skull shattered into a pulped, bloody mass atop his thin, ragged stump of a neck.

The surviving of the two men dropped his weapon, his expression so empty there seemed to be a void where his face should have been. He staggered to his feet, nearly falling thanks to the cleanly split cut that dashed down his left calf, and began to stumble away.

"Ggio-!" Soi Fon called after him and standing to follow, not quite sure what he was doing, or even what _she _was doing- it was so much to take in, even for her calloused state of mind- but the second she took to her feet the world spun around her. It was probably from blood loss, she thought as if it had nothing to do with her, as if it were someone else's body; she did, after all, have a rather large, bone-exposing cut traveling across her ribs. She could feel her skin and the cloth from her shirt stretching and flapping as she moved, the stickiness of the crimson fluid that was still flowing sluggishly from the wound practically gluing the two materials together.

So rather than following as briskly as she had intended, Soi Fon had to pause to steady herself with the remains of a table as Ggio got progressively further away from her. Suddenly, however, he halted. Stood with his head down, staring at something at the floor. He crouched, to pick whatever it was up, and Soi Fon could only pray that it wasn't something that he could hurt himself with.

As he got back up she saw something flash redly in the dying light that streamed through the shattered windows of the bar, something that had been lying in a pool of half-dried blood, something that had flown from nerveless fingers when the first bullets had come tearing through the building and through flesh…

Tesla's silver crucifix dangled between Ggio's fingers, and he watched it as if entranced as it swung and spun on the end of its chain. The thing, which had been so bright after Menoly's cleaning, was clotted with congealed sanguine, hair, and what looked like flecks of either flesh or splintered wood. Soi Fon wanted to believe it was the latter.

Ggio unwound the crimson-stained chain from his fingers, his ochre gaze locked on the cross at the end the whole time, before he slipped the necklace over his head, heedless of the blood that streaked his face with the action or of the half-dried liquid that caught in his hair. The silver, which had always hung from Tesla's throat, now hung from Ggio's.

He turned now, and glanced at Menoly on the floor; he seemed unsurprised to find Tesla lying nearby with one arm outstretched in a last, desperate attempt to reach his sister. Soi Fon noted dully that he had succeeded, his now-stiffening fingers locked intertwined through Menoly's, a wide bloody streak showing where he had dragged himself the last few feet to reach her side. He must have moved while Ggio and Nnoitra fought, Soi Fon thought, because if he hadn't been dead when he first fell, he certainly was now. Even in repose the blonde man looked worried and apologetic, tears drying on his face. Heedless of the pooled red that had spread between the two siblings, the mingling crimson of those who already shared blood, Ggio dropped down beside his fallen friends, slipping their joined hands between both of his own.

"You're fucking liars, the both of you. You promised me, but you didn't keep your word," Ggio said conversationally after a moment of silence, breaking off with a bout of clipped, unstable laughter that was shrill and sounded unlike his own before his voice deteriorated into a sob that broke his words, "You promised you wouldn't leave me behind. What am I supposed to do now?"

Soi Fon remained silent, merely watching as Ggio seemed to slip away, his eyes glazing; maybe it was a mental preservation thing, but she didn't think he could take much more of anything without snapping. What could she do? Even as she watched he broke into silent giggles despite the tears the flowed down his cheeks or the sobs that wracked his body.

"Nothing left," she heard him mutter before falling quiet again, that hollow look in his eyes deepening until she thought she might fall into that madness as well. After a time that perfect, deranged silence settled once more as Ggio stilled. Perfect, dizzying, horrifying, agony-drenched quiet…

What was left of the door exploded off the hinges, and in an instant that noiseless state was shattered just like the windows; Soi Fon whirled with a hiss, snatching up a discarded gun and feeling her ribs shriek in pain with her movement. Ggio made no move, not so much as twitching at the sound.

"Soi Fon!" a voice cried, and it took the addressed woman a moment to realize that speaker was Yoruichi. The violet haired woman was vaulting toward her even as she crumpled to her knees with relief and anemia-induced weakness.

"Yoruichi," she breathed, clutching at her friend's sleeve for support, "Thank God…"

"What happened here?! Are you alright? What am I saying, of course you're not, you're bleeding everywhere… There are bodies all over the place, it's a wreck, what- Holy shit," the dark skinned woman choked as she caught sight Ggio sitting, blood and tear stained, beside his adopted family. Kisuke, who had paused over the headless corpse of Nnoitra, looked up as Yoruichi broke off suddenly and followed her gaze mutely.

"I'll call Tessai," he said shortly, walking out of the room as if unsure of what to do in such a situation. Barely a moment later they heard him snap, presumably over the phone, "And _don't bring the kids_,"

Yoruichi half-lifted Soi Fon into a still-acceptably stable chair and peeled the torn part of her shirt away from the wound with tears in her eyes.

"They're dead, aren't they?" she whispered as she examined the cut across her friend's abdomen; Soi Fon only nodded, "And Ggio? How is he doing?"

The other woman couldn't answer, only looking over the dark skinned woman's shoulder at the man in question. He was not only deathly silent now but equally as still, his head down and his shoulders drooping as if he were Atlas himself. His long braid had come slightly unraveled, the end trailing through pools of sanguine that could have belonged to anyone; the gash across his calf was still pulsing with timed rushes of blood, but the glass cuts in his forearm had slowed to an oozing trickle despite the fact that the lips of the wounds were still parted fairly.

"Sit tight," Yoruichi instructed her friend, "And try not to move too much. Tessai'll come and patch you up soon,"

With that, the violet haired beauty skirted the outstretched arm of a murdered thug and went to crouch next to Ggio. There was no movement from the other party, as if he didn't notice her presence… until she touched him, at least. She brushed her hand lightly across his shoulder to get his attention, and Ggio did something that Soi Fon had never seen him do before: he flinched.

He shied away from Yoruichi's fingers as if she meant to cause him arm, his ochre eyes wide and unrecognizing. His lips fluttered as if he meant to speak, but no words came forward, and after a moment all the energy drained from his body. Ggio returned to his vigil, slumping forward as he realized that nothing was happening to him. He probably wouldn't have cared if something _had_ happened, perhaps he would have even welcomed it…

"Ggio?" Yoruichi asked, touching him again. There was no reaction at all this time, at least not immediately. His gaze traveled eventually to the dark skinned woman's face, vague and unfocused, as if he was staring right through her, "You need to let go now… you're hurt, you can't stay here,"

"No," the man said numbly, his voice barely audible as he shook his head slowly.

"You can't help them anymore Ggiovanni," the woman said through her own tears, "You have to let _me_ help _you_ now, alright?"

Ggio didn't answer this time, only staring at Yoruichi after she had finished speaking. She reached forward and pried his bloodied fingers off of the dead siblings' interlocked hands; she encountered no resistance, and unnervingly, his hands were as cold as Tesla and Menoly's.

"No," he breathed again with a shudder. Soi Fon watched as Yoruichi leaned forward and wrapped Ggio in a tight hug as if she intended to hold the breaking man together; two pairs of ochre eyes leaked salt water in equal soundlessness.

Soi Fon watched as Yoruichi held Ggio, no longer sure if she was holding him for his comfort or for her own.

….

"Something's happened," Ulquiorra conjectured flatly as he looked around the table in Las Noches, noting with something akin to interest that the seats of Nnoitra, Aaroniero and Szayel were all empty. The doctor's chair was vacant frequently, so that didn't surprise him, but the other two had been on a job… perhaps Ggiovanni and Tesla had managed to kill them, the green eyed man thought, or perhaps not.

"No shit," Grimmjow muttered ill-temperedly, his arms crossed as his blue gaze darted around restlessly, "Aizen wouldn't have called us here otherwise."

"Schiffer's right," Stark spoke up as if he hadn't heard Grimmjow, "This isn't one of Aizen's usual briefings."

As if hearing his name had summoned him, the double doors at the front of the room swung open, and Aizen himself swept into the meeting area looking decidedly angry; in his wake strode Gin and Aaroniero, Tousen nowhere to be seen. The dark haired leader of the Espada sat down at the head of the table and the schizophrenic disguise-master in the ranks took his own seat on the other side.

There was a stretch of silence that seemed to stretch the nerves of everyone in the room.

"Well, Aaroniero?" Aizen Sousuke said frigidly with a stiff smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Give your report."

"Nnoitra Gilga is dead," the addressed man announced. There was a ripple of surprise around the table, and Ulquiorra flicked a glance across the table to see Grimmjow sitting in utter shock, unable to even be hateful, "As is his squad, but he managed to kill the siblings Tesla Lindocruz and Menoly Mallia; Ggiovanni Vega is marked as at least temporarily out of action and the one called Soi Fon is lightly injured. Target Yoruichi Shihoin was absent at the time of raid, location unknown,"

With that, the man sat down, his face perfectly composed.

"How?" Yammy wondered, seemingly speaking to himself, "How did Nnoitra let himself get killed by those pipsqueaks?"

"He was cocky," Aaroniero sneered, his clear expression disappearing, "Cocky and overconfident and idiotic to the point of playing with his prey."

"Enough," Aizen put in calmly as Yammy opened his mouth furiously, and instantly order was restored to the murmuring group around the table; attention became focused on their leader and the skulking silver-haired man behind him, "The fact of the matter is, for the time being our threat has been removed, albeit at the cost of Nnoitra. A very affordable cost in my mind."

Another low mutter swept across the room, one neither of assent or dissent, simply an acknowledgement.

"We will proceed, but keep something of an eye on Vega; I don't want to have to do more than I have to, and if he doesn't try and get back up, we can leave him in his defeat… if he doesn't have the good sense to do so, however…" Aizen left the threat hanging on the air, "Someone inform Granz about this and then get back to whatever you were doing beforehand. I have business to attend to and not enough time to deal with you."

And just like that, the leader of the Espada left the room, the ever-grinning Gin waving at the group at the table as he followed his master.

Grimmjow met Ulquiorra's eyes across the table, and the green eyed man had to suppress a sigh; the look on the other man's face informed the Bat that they would soon be doing something very stupid.

…..

"Are we really just going to leave him alone?" Ichimaru Gin asked Aizen as the man stalked down the halls of Las Noches like the devil was on his heels.

"For now. We'll see what he does and then take care of it… from what Aaro tells me, the man is practically begging to die already, but I see no point in giving him what he wants. If his mind has been wrecked by the death of his friends than that is his fault for putting so much of himself into the people around him. But you know that already, don't you Gin?"

"O'course," the fox grinned at the man he followed, but behind the visage of servitude lay something entirely different, and even as he spoke he could see the face of a woman, he curly reddish hair falling over pale eyes, a small mole beside her smiling mouth, "O'course I know not to put too much in to anyone; there'd be no point here, since we're going to kill them all anyway."

"It's as you say, Gin," Aizen replied, a small, cruel smirk twisting his lips, "It is exactly as you say. Every last one of them…"

Gin suppressed a shiver of hatred and smiled wider. That was all he was good at, after all, hiding and smiling.

Just like a fox in a hole, he would bide his time…. Waiting, watching, and smiling all the while.

…..

"Almost done, Ms. Soi Fon," Kisuke said gravely, standing by the woman's head as Yoruichi held her friend's hand for comfort; Tessai squinted in concentration behind his glasses, sliding his surgical needle through Soi Fon's skin carefully and pulling the thread tight over the lips of her wound. She winced at the feeling, but it didn't really hurt thanks to the numbing injection he had given her before.

"Thanks," she replied, her eyes closed as to avoid looking at the sight of her own skin being treated like fabric, even if she couldn't feel it. She looked for something else, anything else to latch her sight onto, something to distract, and found gaze drawn to where Ggio sat, slumped unfeelingly against the wall. He was staring at nothing, his eyes vacant, his body still except for the occasional shudder that rocked him at random intervals; every time he trembled, Mao, who had taken up sorrowful residence on the man's lap, would give a trouble _miao_ and run his sandpaper-tongue across his master's hand. Eventually Soi Fon drew her eyes away from even this, tracing the lines in the wood at her feet instead.

The bodies of the mafia-runners had been disposed of Kisuke-style, which involved tossing them in the back of Tessai's truck, covering them with a tarp, and driving a good ways before dumping them, but the bloodstains were still on the floor. It had been less than eight hours since the shoot-out after all, and it was now approaching midnight as Soi Fon finally got all of her wounds taken care of and looked at.

In the corner Tesla and Menoly had been laid side by side in as gentle a repose as they could be arranged in considering the violent means of their deaths before they had been covered in a sheet to keep their forms away from wandering eyes- not like one could hide the nature of what was there, in that corner… more than corpses, there was heartbreak, there was madness, there were breathing shadows and living nightmares.

Soi Fon concentrated on her breathing and the grain of the wood, hearing another soft mewl from the cat before Kisuke tapped her arm.

"You're done, love. Now we'll have to see about Ggiovanni," the blonde said, looking tired and unwell in the sallow light.

"I'll do what I can to help," the woman replied, feeling Yoruichi squeeze her fingers gently before letting go. She stood, feeling her stitches stretch tight, but not uncomfortably so, across her ribs and walked to where Ggio sat, crouching at his side. This action scared Mao out of the man's lap, sending the silver tabby skittering back up the stairs, the scent of congealing blood driving the animal mad with nervous fear. Behind her, Yoruichi shook a cigarette out of a crumpled box and lit it between her lips, taking a steadying drag and covering the metallic scent of gunsmoke and death with the smell of tobacco smoke.

"It's time to get up," Soi Fon told the man. He simply turned vacant eyes on her, not bothering to stir for a moment before he staggered to his feet in blind compliance, heedless of the gash in his calf. Yoruichi dropped her cigarette in her rush to catch the dark haired man as his wounded leg buckled, almost dropping him to his knees.

Tessai looked up from where he had been preparing a cloth with more local anesthetics, putting down the rag and walking directly up to where Yoruichi stood, struggling to keep up Ggio's unresponsive weight as Soi Fon made an effort to give aid without tearing her new stitches. In an instant the huge man had Ggio wrapped in his arms and lifted off the floor, placing him in a chair more gently than someone of that mass should have been able. Ggio simply watched as if disconnected as the medical man wiped half-dried blood from the wound, splitting the lips of the cut apart to see how deep it went.

Soi Fon approached from behind and took Ggio's limp hand, causing him to half turn and look at her from the corner of his unrecognizing eyes.

"You don't have to watch you know," she said to him, "Since you don't like needles, I mean,"

Ggio turned away from her with no indication that he could hear her; his ochre eyes set on the glittering silver-red of needle that Tessai was working with, and Soi Fon braced herself for his reaction toward it- but there was none. Ggio simply traced the methodic movement of the needle and thread through his skin as if it didn't belong to him.

Soi Fon bit her lip.

Something was seriously wrong, more than just having her home destroyed and her friends slaughtered.

Maybe she had lost more than just Tesla and Menoly… what if she had lost Ggio to his own dark thoughts?


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Eeeeeeyo! I got my act together this week guys! I'm posting early so that I don't have to leave you all with another long, post-less week while I'm in Texas. I hope you all enjoy this! :D**

Reverie

He looked without seeing, heard without understanding, felt without comprehension; it was too much, far too much, and he could feel himself slipping away, barely hanging onto the edge of his sanity. He was walking a fine line, spiraling into the darkness within his own mind, because damn it, he didn't _want _to feel the pain, didn't _want_ to hear the weeping, didn't _want_ to see the blood.

And somewhere, on the other side of that darkness, Ggio was remembering.

….

_It was hot; a horrible, muggy afternoon after a day when the sun had baked off of the asphalt for hours, giving the air of the city a disgusting, burned smell. The cracked concrete was too bright to look at, and even in the shade you could feel moisture leaving your body so fast it almost wasn't fair. But, as he knew well, hardly anything was fair. _

_ He contemplated this as he lay on the melting hot-top of a partially fenced-in and vacant parking lot, a fifteen year old boy with narrow ochre eyes that were squinted against the over-bright light of August, his shaggy black hair damp with sweat and clotted with dried blood. Yeah, life was unfair alright. _

_ Oh look, another passer-by was ignoring his crumpled form. _

"_Thanks, you unfeeling son of a bitch," he muttered thickly as he made another attempt to get to his feet despite the way the world spun and his side screamed in agony, "I appreciate the help, really."_

_He staggered forward a couple of steps, almost losing his newly gained balance as he blinked sweat and blood out of his eyes, the knife-wound below his ribs roaring red-hot, burning fiercer than the blisters his skin had broken into from passing out in melting tar. His tongue flicked out over his cracked lips as he touched his forehead, feeling the gash in his scalp where he knew a cinder-block had been used to try and bash his skull in._

_He really should learn to keep his temper in check, he thought. He might actually end up getting killed one of these days. Not like it would make a difference, since he couldn't get money to buy food; he had been pick-pocketing, as was his specialty. Being a thief suited him just fine, as long as he could make it. But he was fifteen, not able to pay for schooling or for a home, and there was no way in _hell_ he'd go back into foster care… _

_But stealing had its drawbacks. Like now. His head was throbbing, his skull probably at least a little bit cracked, and all because he'd been careless with who he'd been taking from. Rule of thumb, you never steal from anyone who looks like they could beat you to a bloody mess… only, the guy he'd tried to steal from had started it, and Ggio had known he wasn't strong enough to fight him. The bastard had found the crawl space were Ggio slept and then wrecked it, saying that piece-of-shit beggars deserved what they got. Ggio had been so angry, so angry…. he'd said that he didn't beg, he'd _never _beg, and, well…_

_He figured he'd get back at the other guy by non-violent but malevolent means, steal his wallet and send the older teen home broke. But he'd been caught, and the guy had said he'd want to see Ggio beg after all… so the guy had brought friends, and the inevitable had taken place._

_But at least he hadn't begged. He was done asking favors from the world. _

_Ggio sagged suddenly to his knees, nausea punching through him with brutal force, probably from the heat… he had to get home, at least, forget anything else for the moment. Once he was home he could rest, and then maybe look at the cut across his stomach. A shadow fell over him and he whipped his head up, spraying drops of blood and sweat from the ends of his hair._

"_What, didn't get enough the first time?" he snarled, "Go ahead, kick me while I'm down you fucking-"_

_He stopped as he saw that the person who stood over him was not the ones who had beaten him, but a young girl, probably only about ten or eleven. She was blonde, with startling green eyes that glittered in the light and seemed to burn him as she stared. She was dirty though, and her clothes were torn in some places and poorly patched in others, the soles of her worn tennis shoes peeling away from the uppers. She reached toward him, her fingers brushing against the wound on his head._

_Ggio jerked away at the feather-soft touch, a bolt of pain and illness wracking his body so he had to struggle not to vomit onto the hot pavement. _

"_Don't," he gasped at the girl as she stepped closer, naïve concern written on her features as Ggio raised his voice and yelled at her, "I said don't _touch_ me!"_

_Ggio lashed out and pushed the girl away from his injured body, choking on the anguish that the movement brought before doubling over, hugging himself just to keep himself together. The girl stumbled backward and fell, skinning her elbows on the hot pavement, and tears started in her eyes._

"_Hey!" another voice shouted from the sidewalk on the other side of the gap in the chain-link fence that surrounded the empty parking lot, "Don't push her around you bastard!"_

_Ggio looked up to see a boy about his own age running forward, his sneakers untied and his black-sleeved red tee shirt a size too big, a silver cross bouncing off his chest at the end of a long chain as he ran; he too was blonde, and it was very obvious that he was related to the now-crying girl before him, though his eyes were brown and his features harder. It was the person who had passed him by only a few minutes ago without stopping to help. Ggio gave a helpless, humorless bark of laughter before he leaned over and vomited to the side. _

_The girl stopped crying and looked scared instead, and the boy had an expression of worried disgust as Ggio turned his gaze back to them, wiping his mouth with the back of one bloodied hand. He swallowed, hard, fighting against the urge to throw up again, and pushed himself to his feet. He swayed, almost fell, and then found it in himself to turn and walk away._

"_Wait!" the other boy cried, lifting his sister to her feet and starting after Ggio, "You're hurt!"_

"_No shit," the dark haired boy bit out, "Just stay away from me,"_

"_You need help,"_

"_Not from you," Ggio growled back, "I'll be damned if I'm going to rely on _anyone_. Go take care of the brat, find her a fucking band-aid or something,"_

_With that he staggered his way out of the lot, and the blonde boy let him. He heard the girl behind him as he left._

"_What's wrong with him, Tesla?" she asked softly, sniffling as her brother used his shirt to wipe traces of blood from her elbows, "Is he sick? Why won't he let us help him?"_

"_He's been hurt pretty bad, lots of times. That's why he's scared to let us close," the boy replied, "Hush now Menoly. Let's go home,"_

…_.._

_ The other boy had been right, Ggio thought sometime later, at least partially. He was hurt bad. Well, worse now than before. The on his head was healing nicely, although it still opened up when he slept some nights, but it was scabbed over and closing at least, albeit slowly. The knife-wound across his stomach however…._

_ It had been fairly deep, but it wasn't like he had been gutted, so he figured he'd be okay. But if he thought about it, he knew better; it was infected, and he'd begun to feel feverish days ago. The last time he'd looked at the damage it had made him sick; the flesh was red and swollen, the lips of the wound puckered and beginning to leak pus. _

_ He'd have done something about it, but the fever was eating at him in a way that hunger never did; he hadn't eaten anything in a while either, he remembered. Didn't matter. Wasn't hungry._

_ He thought he might die there in his forgotten little space in the alley, if it hadn't been for luck. He had, in a state of semi-delirium, somehow found the strength to stagger upright and wander closer to the main streets. He'd been thinking that, no matter how much he didn't want to, maybe this time he'd have to beg. He didn't want to die yet; he _couldn't_, not since his mother's dying words to him were to be a good boy and stay out of trouble. How would that be, to get to heaven and then tell your own mother you couldn't stay thanks to your being an asshole on earth? Did he even believe in heaven? Who knew? He sure didn't, his brain felt like it was strapped to a gyrating wheel that was flinging his thoughts in every direction…. _

_ He had lurched far enough out of the alley to see people walking by on the main road, to see the sunflashes kicked off of car windows, but his delirious false strength was leaving him, and he collapsed, giggling, against a wall. Laughing hurt, and oh how his skin burned… to his fevered gaze, everything around him was cast in shades of hot, wavering purple. But the brick behind him was cool, so cool…. _

_ And darkness encroached._

…_._

_ "_Look Tesla! That boy!"

"I see him Menoly,"

"He's not… _dead_, is he?"

"I don't think so; stay back a bit, okay? I don't know what's wrong with him,"

_Ggio could hear voices, yes, voices that were echoing down the corridors of his uncomprehending brain and ringing in his ears… He opened his eyes to see a silhouette with a halo of light crowning it; a faint smile touched his lips, and he raised on hand to reach for where the face of the shadow should have been. _

"_Not yet," he whispered, "I can't go yet. I… I still….Wan-t to… live. Sorry mom… but not…." _

_The shadow was absorbed into the darkness as he once again lost consciousness. But someone was there with him. He wasn't alone anymore. _

_ Maybe the world still gave favors after all. _

…_.._

_ Ggio opened his eyes again, his gaze out of focus and blurred over with sick exhaustion, but he was at least in conscious control of himself now. He blinked, clearing his vision a bit, and realized vaguely that he had no idea where he was. The roof that he was staring at was made of cracked plaster that was broken in some places to reveal equally shifty concrete, but he was laying on something softer than the ground. Suddenly, a face came into view, causing him to jolt upright in surprise._

_ "Get away from me!" the words tumbled out in a rush, his voice hoarse; he wouldn't have admitted it, but he was scared. Where was he? Who was he with? Was there a danger? And if there was, would he be able to weasel his way out of it? He scrambled backwards, or rather, tried to. His weak limbs gave out shakily beneath him, and he fell backwards, smacking his head painfully against something. When he spoke again it was with a tremor to his tone, "Don't come near me. I'm warning you. I don't know who you are, but you better keep your distance."_

_ "Cut the act," a somewhat familiar voice snapped as a hand grabbed a fistful of Ggio's hair to keep him from squirming away, "I'm no doctor, but anyone could see that you're going to die if someone doesn't do something about this cut. Now stay still and let me help you; I need you to trust me, even if it's just for a bit."_

_ Ggio swallowed, his breath coming in shallow, rough gasps, his lips cracked and bleeding. That voice… it belonged to the tall blonde boy, the boy with the silver cross… Tesla, Ggio thought. That must be his name; it's pretty unusual and hard to forget. He could feel something brushing painfully by his wound, bring a hiss of air between his teeth._

_ "Breathe," Tesla said soothingly, "Just breathe. And try not scream, you'll scare Menoly,"_

_ "Why are you doing this?" Ggio spat, his body rigid with pain; he knew what the other boy was doing. He was cleaning out the wound, but the way if felt was like he was using a fucking brillo pad. _

_ "Because," the boy said, "You looked like you could use the help," _

_ "That doesn't mean shit," the dark haired invalid snapped hoarsely, "You've got to have a motive. Everyone does,"_

_ "Not this time," the one called Tesla said softly, "I'm just a kid who doesn't want to see anyone else die,"_

_ Ggio fell silent for a long time, biting the inside of his cheek with each spear of agony that wracked through his abdomen while the wound was being cleaned. Eventually he began to speak again to try and take his mind off what the other boy was doing._

_ "Where's the brat?" he asked, his words harsh, but his tone more gentle._

_ "You mean Menoly? She's here, just outside. She started crying when she saw how bad you were, so I sent her outside. Why?"_

_ "How're her elbows?"_

_ "Just fine," Tesla replied calmly; Ggio heard a ratcheting sound, like tape being torn from its roll, "They were just small scrapes, after all. We've suffered worse,"_

_ "That's good," Ggio was quiet for another moment or so before the other boy clapped his hands together with a certain finality, a grim look of accomplishment on his straight-edge features._

_ "Well, I've done what I can; Do you want help sitting up?" he asked._

_ "I got it," Ggio answered stubbornly, pushing himself into a better sitting position with difficulty. He admired the handy work on his stomach; a clean sheet of gauze had been placed over the newly cleaned wound, held in place with medical tape. A bloody, pus-streaked rag was floating a bucket of dirty water, while a second container with clean water in it sat nearby. After a moment he looked around him he realized that he was on a cot in a sort of half-lean-to arrangement. An vacant room formed one side of the arrangement, while covering the open wall that probably led to the alley was a stretch of torn, filthy tarp. He was sitting on a sort of makeshift futon formed of a folded blanket and a length of Styrofoam. _

_ "We kind of got off on the wrong foot before," the blonde boy said with an oddly apologetic look on his face, running one hand through his hair, and sticking out the other for a handshake, "I'm Tesla Lindocruz, and my sister is Menoly Mallia."_

_ "Ggio Vega," Ggio returned, turning Tesla's handshake into a high-five that was followed by a fist bump, "She your half-sister?"_

_ "No, she just carries our mother's last name while I carry our father's, but we have the same set of parents," the blonde answered, his brown eyes free of guile._

_ "Got it," Ggio sighed with a nod as the girl called Menoly slipped into the small room._

_ "Is it over?" she squeaked, her green eyes wide, flicking between Tesla and Ggio._

_ "Yeah, we're done," Tesla answered her with a tired smile, "Say hello to Ggio,"_

_ "Hi," the little girl greeted with a shy smile, and Ggio noticed that she was missing one of her canines as he gave her a somewhat brusque nod. _

_ "Thanks for the help," Ggio said, looking up at Tesla, "It's been fun, really, but I'll leave you two to it,"_

_ He tried to get to his feet, but his knees buckled almost immediately, and he had to catch himself against one wall. Tesla gripped his upper arm to steady him and then sat him back down, his mild face set in a stern glare._

_ "You're staying here until that cut closes, do you understand me? You can't walk two feet, how do you think you'll fare if you're out there by yourself? You're like us, I know; you scrounge, or you beg, or you steal in order to get what you need. You can't do that in this condition."_

_ "I can't stay here," Ggio gritted out._

_ "Why not?" Tesla demanded._

_ "You've got the brat to take care of," the dark haired boy answered, "I can't let you take me on."_

_ "You don't have a choice," Tesla growled firmly before stalking out of the lean-to._

…

_ "Hey guys! Dinner's on," Ggio yelled out of the gap in the boards that covered the windows of the room that he had come to call home. In the time that he had spent with the two blonde siblings his sixteenth birthday had come and gone, but he felt no desire to leave. Sure, conditions weren't the best here, but he'd been living in worse. The wound on his stomach had faded to nothing more than a slightly twisted scar, and the time he'd spent with Tesla and Menoly was probably the best since he'd gone to live with his father. _

"_Aren't you ever going to get out of here?" Tesla complained with a grin that clearly said that his feelings on the matter were quite the opposite of his words, "Well, as long as you stay I can keep using you as a maid and chef, right?_

_ "It's more my house at this point than it is yours at this point, isn't that right Menoly?"Ggio laughed as he handed a cracked plate to the eleven year old who had followed her brother through the door. She looked around appraisingly before speaking with a perfectly straight face._

_ "Sure, but you haven't done much with the place; I mean, look! Not even a rug, you have no taste in home décor."_

_ The boys stared at her for a minute before she lost her composer and began giggling. Ggio ruffled her hair with a smirk before pushing down on her head to make her sit down._

_ "Alright ya brat, just eat and tell me what you think of my cooking,"_

_ The banter between the three of them until the meal was over and Menoly was rolled into a ratty blanket, fast asleep. Ggio could see Tesla fidgeting with his crucifix as he sat against the wall; the boy's lips were fluttering, Ggio noticed. He was probably praying. _

_ "Something wrong?" the ochre eyed young man asked, seating himself beside his friend. Tesla turned worried brown eyes onto the other boy._

_ "We can't keep living like this," he said quietly, his gaze wandering over to where Menoly slept, her back to the other two, "We're old enough to work, and we do, but we'll never rise above this without help. I want a better life for my sister… I want to send her to school and maybe see her head off to college if I'm lucky enough."_

_ "Help?" Ggio repeated before giving a harsh snort, "Yeah, sure. Who's going to help _us_? You've been in this city for a while, you've seen what goes on. The only thing that'd get us help would be joining a gang, and even then that'd only give us someone to watch our backs. Or maybe slip a knife in it."_

_ Tesla only looked steadily at Ggio. The shorter of the two boys groaned as he caught the other's meaning._

_ "You can't be serious Tes. How is _that_ going to give her a better life? You-"_

_ "No, listen. There's a new gang, a really big one, that's been out recruiting lately. The Espada. They're well connected, and… they pay for information and for workers. I can offer information _and_ a worker," the look in Tesla's eyes was desperately hopeful. Ggio shook his head, turning his eyes to the moonlit concrete between his feet, "The guy who wanted to recruit me, he was… man, I don't know, _wild_. Really tall, that's for sure. But he completely busted this guy from an enemy gang on the corner, took him apart. He saw the way I was looking at him, and he came over, it scared me shitless; then he just sort of asked me if I wanted to join him in his gang, said there was money involved… I have to give them an answer by tomorrow. I swear Ggio, if this guy can help us, I'll do whatever he says."_

_ "I dunno Tes… How's it gonna help her if you get caught, or worse?"_

_ "If I get caught, I can get bailed! I meant it when I said they're well connected… and if I die, well… then she has you, I guess," Tesla said uneasily._

_ "Okay, for one, I am a _shit_ replacement of a brother. Secondly, what makes you think I'll _let_ you go give them an answer? I could just keep you here and at least in one piece," Ggio put out defiantly._

_ "Your decisions are yours to make, and mine are mine. You don't have to come with me, but I'm going; I can only hope God can forgive me for what I might have to do,"_

_ "If you're going, you're not going by yourself," the stubborn reply came, golden eyes glittering madly in the dark, "I'm coming with you,"_

_ "So'm I," Menoly piped up from the corner, her voice sleepy but her eyes awake, "You're not leaving me behind. We go together,"_

…_._

_ "I only invited _you_, yesterday kid," the tall, lanky man said with a wide and somehow alarming grin. His greasy black hair hung in his eyes and Ggio could see a long knife glittering at the man's waist. Tesla swallowed beside him, hard, as if trying to steady himself. It didn't work very well, "Who're these chumps?"_

_ "Yes sir," the blonde boy answered, his voice shaking, "This is my sister, Menoly Mallia, and my brother Ggiovanni Vega."_

_Ggio had to struggle not to look at him. He had called him his brother…_

_ "What, they half-siblings?" the man asked._

_ "My sister carries my mother's name since she was born after my father left, and Ggio is the offspring of one of my father's affairs," Tesla answered in a believable lie._

Ain't _that _close enough to the truth_, Ggio thought a bit bitterly._

_ "So why're they _here,_ kid?"_

_ "Well, sir…."_

_ "None of that 'sir' crap, brat. M'name's Nnoitra,"_

_ "We wanted to join," Ggio broke in, stepping forward, "You made an offer to Tesla and we want in on it,"_

_ The tall man stalked forward and bent down to get as close as he could to Ggio's face._

_ "And what if," Nnoitra asked lowly, "That offer wasn't extended to you?"_

_ "So you're not recruiting then? Well that's alright," Ggio said coolly with a snarl building on his face, "I'm sure we could find somewhere else that'd take us."_

_ Nnoitra straightened back up, his smile reappearing._

_ "That's fine kid, you two can stay. I just wanted to see if you'd beg to stay with your coward of a brother here," the tall man laughed, "If you're really intending to join, then ask around the East side of the city for Las Noches; people there'll point you in the right direction."_

_ With that, the man left. Almost immediately Ggio turned to where Tesla was standing._

_ "What you said," he began, "Did you mean it?"_

_ "What?" Tesla looked nonplussed. _

_ "You said I was your brother. Did you mean it or was that just an excuse to get me in?"_

_ "I meant it; I told you already, I'd trust Menoly to you. We're as good as brothers already," _

_ Ggio beamed at his blonde friend, who grinned back, before feeling a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see Menoly._

_ "Does this mean I can call you Ggio-nii now?" she asked softly. _

_ "If that's what you want, kid," Ggio said as he ruffled her hair. When he looked back up, Tesla was already slipping out the door. He paused, and turned to speak in afterthought._

_ "And Ggio?" he started, "We won't leave you behind. Like Menoly said last night, we stick together."_

_ "Thanks Tes," Ggio whispered almost to himself, feeling Menoly's fingers in his own._

_ He could still see the flash of the silver crucifix in the summer sunlight._

…

A tear ran from one of Ggio's eyes and dripped onto Soi Fon's hand as it covered his for support. She looked up as his hand began trembling again, and was startled to see more tears waiting, unshed in his eyes.

"Stop!" she said sharply to Tessai, who halted his work immediately, "I think you're hurting him!"

The big man also looked into Ggio's face before turning back to his work, placing a few more stitches with his steady hand.

"The anesthetics should still be in effect. I'm almost done anyways," he replied. Soi Fon only squeezed Ggio's hand briefly for support, and heard him whisper something softly, almost to himself.

"Liar,"


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm late again! ;A;**

**Thank you for all your wonderful reviews, you make me feel like I'm not a total literary failure :3**

Wake

Ulquiorra was tailing someone through the crowded afternoon streets of the city, making sure to keep a fair distance from his target. He didn't need to fear losing the man; he was hard to miss, standing a head taller than most others in the crowd, his hair that shocking, unnatural shade of sickeningly bright blue.

But oh, was Grimmjow an ass… he had made up his mind after another meeting at Las Noches, it seemed, taking off without a word to anyone, but Ulquiorra knew where the man was going. The Bat had followed the other man home, watched as he told Nel to stay home and wait for him… and then headed out on foot. The man was infuriatingly idiotic; what he was doing might get him killed. If he approached Ggiovanni in the state that he was said to be in, he might cause the shorter man to snap and-

"Ulquiorra, why are we walking so fast?" a gentle voice panted from behind him. He looked over his shoulder, remembering that he had the woman with him.

"My apologies. I'm trying to catch up with an acquaintance," the green-eyed man replied to the woman beside him, her fiery auburn hair falling over her shoulder in an almost crimson cascade, spilling over her busty chest as it was confined by a cute, white button-up blouse.

"Who?" she asked, stretching up on tip-toe to try and see over the heads of the people in front of her. Ulquiorra sighed, pointing to the back of Grimmjow's head as the man jostled his way through the crowd, "The tall man up there? With the blue-"

"Yes," he answered a little more brusquely than intended as he noticed his target picking up the pace.

"But that's Grimmjow! If you wanted to say hi to your friend, you could have just said so," Orihime's laughter chimed like small silver bells, causing the heart that Ulquiorra had once considered nonexistent to flutter in his chest. The woman cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted over the noise of the crowd, "Grimmjow! Mr. Grimmjow!"

Ulquiorra resisted the urge to wince as she shouted; not only was she extremely loud, but now there was no way to follow unnoticed. He watched as the blue-eyed man ahead froze, whirling on his heel and searching the people with narrowed eyes until he caught sight of Orihime waving and rushing forward with Ulquiorra in tow.

"What the hell are you doing here, Ulquiorra?" he snarled as soon as the two were close enough. The Bat righted himself and dusted off a sleeve nonchalantly, as if being dragged through the streets by his girlfriend was a regular thing.

"The woman and I were simply on an outing, and because you are so disgustingly noticeable we couldn't help but stop by and say hello," Ulquiorra answered, his tone dripping with scorn, "But a better question, Grimmjow, is what are _you_ doing here?"

"You pride yourself on your ability to know everything, don't you, Bat? You tell me," the blue haired man spat. Ulquiorra shrugged, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and looking up at the taller man defiantly.

"Fine, if you wish. You were headed to the bar to harass Ggiovanni Vega after his loss. Rather insensitive, don't you think? Having just lost both of his siblings he is in a rather fragile state of mind, and you seem to want to break him,"

"You son of a bitch, you've been following me!" Grimmjow barked, taking a threatening step forward, "And so what if I was going to go pay a little visit on Vega, he took something from me that I've been waiting to get for years!"

"I thought you two were friends…" Orihime butted in, her brows knitted in confusion.

"Friends?" the taller of the two men laughed humorlessly, "As if!"

"Coworkers, woman," Ulquiorra said flatly, narrowing his eyes at Grimmjow, "Nothing more,"

"But this man who lost his siblings, is he a coworker too?"

"In a manner of speaking," the green eyed man answered, not taking his eyes from Grimmjow's face.

"Anyways," the blue haired man before him bit out, "There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'd let _you_ of all people stop me from-"

Grimmjow stopped speaking in the same instant that Ulquiorra felt a light tug on his sleeve. He turned, not sure who to expect at his side, and was met with the pale, scared face of none other than Sungsun.

"Is it true?" she whispered as Orihime looked on, concern and curiosity written in equal parts upon her face, "That Nnoitra's dead?"

Ulquiorra nodded mutely.

"And that Tesla…" she swallowed, her breathing shallow; she seemed either unwilling or unable to speak for a moment before forcing herself to form the words, "Tesla's…"

"He's dead," Grimmjow ceded coldly, "Menoly too."

Sungsun stood there for a moment more before her knees buckled and she crumpled onto the concrete with shock and grief. Her grip on Ulquiorra's sleeve tightened as if he were her savior, her gaze locked on his, her lavender eyes welling with tears that spilled over onto her cheeks. Her shoulders shook with emotion and she mouthed silently, words lost to her for the moment.

"I… I… but _why_?" she began to wail piteously, people in the crowd stopping to look at her as Orihime crouched by her side, making comforting hushing sounds and hugging the crying woman. Uncontrollable sobs began to shake her frame as she began to speak again, "W-we were to b-be m-ma-married!" she cried, "H-he asked if I w-would marry h-him!"

Ulquiorra cast a glance at Grimmjow, who had the decency to look at least a little bit abashed; the man shoved his hands in his pockets embarrassedly, looking away as Ulquiorra crouched before Sungsun to catch her attention and pulled her hand from his sleeve.

"Would you like to come with us to the bar, snake woman?" he asked, "Ggiovanni is still there, with his woman, and they may have the bodies if you would like to see them,"

"I _can't_," Sungsun choked, "I _can't_ go there, I can't look Ggio in the face, I couldn't bear-"

She began to wail again, burying her face in her hands.

"Oy!" a furious voice bellowed, and Ulquiorra looked up to see two more women shouldering their way through the crowd, "That _fuck _did you do to Sungsun, Schiffer?"

"Emilou," Ulquiorra greeted, gaining his feet and speaking lowly so that only the other two could hear him, "Milarose. I did nothing. If you want someone to blame for this, blame Nnoitra, or even higher than that, Aizen if you wish; since you cannot do one, and will not do the other, I suggest you accept this as circumstance and take the snake woman back to Harribel so that she can compose herself."

"I see…" Milarose muttered, the amazon-sized woman narrowing her eyes at Ulquiorra as Emilou went to take Sungsun from Orihime, "Then this is because of the man she was seeing? Lindocruz?"

"Yes," Ulquiorra replied simply, placing his hands in his pockets.

"We told her it was a bad idea… not that he was a bad guy, but look where he ended up," the dark skinned woman sighed, shaking her head, "I guess that's what happens when you decide to try and get in Aizen's way. There's no way to fight that man anymore,"

Ulquiorra made no reply to this statement, simply watching the three women make their way back down the street, feeling Orihime's eyes on his back and hearing Grimmjow snort disgustedly. What was there to say?

What the lion woman had said was true.

….

Yoruichi sat in at one of the ruined tables in the taproom, her eyes on the plywood patch that she had drilled to the remains front door as a makeshift portal until something could be done to better conditions. Would there ever be such a time? She wondered.

It had been some time since Kisuke and Tessai had left, and in those hours of chilling silence, she and Soi Fon had made some attempt at cleaning, sweeping shattered wood and glass and chunks of granite into a pile, arranging the furniture that could still stand, and taping tarps over the windows. The effect left the room dark even this late in the morning, looking like the abandoned remains of an old condemned building.

The sheet-covered bodies had been removed a while ago as well, leaving nothing but bloodstains and memories in their wake. Ggio had originally fought against the taking of Tesla and Menoly's bodies, but he had given up eventually; he seemed to have given up on everything, it seemed. He sat, slumped at another table some distance away, his wound standing in a stark crimson line down his leg, his ochre eyes dull.

Soi Fon had tried to approach him, but he had been unresponsive for the most part, so she had simply stayed by his side, holding him as she was unsure what to say. She had fallen asleep like that, her head against his shoulder and her bandaged sides rising slowly in a sleeper's rhythm.

And that horrible silence pervaded over everything. Not peaceful. Most people found peace in the quiet and the still, but this lack of sound and life was not comforting at all. There was no vitality, only emptiness.

Yoruichi sighed, pushing back her chair and standing, clamping a cigarette between her teeth and lighting it, taking a drag on the thing before walking to where Ggio and Soi Fon sat and taking her place there instead. She cast another look around the room, thinking about whether it was worth it to try and fix the place and get it running again or if she should just try and convince Ggio to sell it.

Even as she thought this, the door banged open, the remains of the original crumbling away and the plywood swinging off the hinges. Yoruichi started to her feet in a heartbeat, Soi Fon jerking awake.

There was no reaction from Ggio.

A tall man with a shock of messy blue hair entered the room, his narrow blue eyes sweeping across both Yoruichi and Soi Fon and finally settling on Ggio, his lip curling over his teeth in a snarl. He close the distance between the two in a second, dragging Ggio's smaller body into the air by the collar of his shirt and punching him straight across the jaw, snapping Ggio's head back with a sharp crack that scared Yoruichi, badly.

She groped across the tabletop and came up with Ggio's gun in her hand, swinging around coolly and jamming the barrel of the gun up against the man's jaw.

"You a friend of that walking skeleton?" she asked, her voice full of icy hate, "'Cause if you are, I'll blow your fucking brains out right here, you bastard,"

"You're assuming a lot, thinking that there is something for you to blow out in Grimmjow's head," a flat, cold voice came from the doorway, "Drop Ggiovanni, Grimmjow, or I'll let this woman shoot you."

The blue haired man did as his companion commanded a bit zealously, not just dropping the slightly punch-drunk man in his grip, but very nearly throwing him, sending Ggio's limp form tumbling across the hard, bloodstained wood.

"Ulquiorra!" Soi Fon cried in sudden recognition, even as she edged toward Ggio's prone body.

"Yes," the Bat replied shortly in his frigid tones, stepping forward as Ggio struggled to rise.

"You know that guy?" Yoruichi snapped, confusion sharpening her tone.

"Fuck off Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow's voice broke through the babble as Orihime tip-toed through the door and ran past the green eyed man, "This is _my_ business, and you have no right to order me around!"

"But you listened to me, didn't you?" the Bat asked, his voice infuriatingly calm and even-tempered.

"Because I don't want a bullet in my head," Grimmjow hissed as he batted Yoruichi's hand away. He swung his arm down to point at Ggio's pathetic shape, "Do you see this? _He's_ the one who took my opportunity at revenge! He's pathetic! I can't believe this!"

"Mr. Grimmjow!" Orihime shouted, fury painting her tone as knelt beside Ggio, helping him into sitting position, "This man is injured and in the middle of grieving!"

"Like I give a damn," the blue haired man snarled, "Look, he's just giving up; He took the life of Nnoitra, and now he's just giving up,"

Ggio had finally managed to regain his feet, and was simply staring vacantly at Grimmjow. More blood ran from the corner of his mouth where it seemed that his teeth had clicked through his cheek when he had been hit, but he made no move to wipe it away. He simply stood, face blank before taking a step forward. Grimmjow snorted derisively, shoving the dark haired man hard; Ggio stumbled, but did not fall again, looking up with hatred in his ochre eyes. There was a sick tearing sound as a couple of Ggio's stitches along the top of his wound ripped through the lips of the wound and started fresh bleeding. The redheaded woman behind him bit her lip in sympathy pain, and Soi Fon winced, but the dark haired man seemed not to feel it.

"Giving up?" he snarled, stalking closer to Grimmjow until the two were only inches apart, "What do you know of giving up?"

"Don't talk to me you bastard," Grimmjow spat back with equal venom in his voice, "You had no right to kill Nnoitra. He was mine, _mine_ to kill for what he did to Nel!"

"But she's still _alive_!" Ggio screamed, his sudden rise in tone startling Grimmjow into taking a step back. The sheer anguish in that cry, the hatred and near madness seemed to push the blue haired man back, allowing the shorter of the two men to take another lurching step forward on his injured leg. Yoruichi didn't react as Ggio snatched his gun back from her before turning back to Grimmjow, laughing humorlessly, bitterly through his speech, "Nel is still _alive_! You talk of me not having a right, but who gives a fuck? Nnoitra might have taken her memories, but he left you her body, didn't he? You can rebuild memories! _He left me with nothing!_ There is nothing _but_ memories left here! He killed Tesla and Menoly right _here_, where you're _standing_!"

The man fell silent, his chest heaving; in the absence of his voice there was nothing but a ringing silence as Ggio rammed the barrel of his gun up against Grimmjow's chest.

"Do you know what I did to Nnoitra's body?" he asked, sounding eerily calm now.

Grimmjow didn't answer, only glaring down with hatred and smothered fear in his ice-blue gaze.

"I emptied my gun into his face. There was nothing left of his head by the time I was done. But you know what? I don't fucking remember. Actually, until you hit me, it was like I had been asleep all this time. There are just clips of activity with blank spots in between. I hate it. But I guess I should thank you for waking me up, in a manner of speaking. Now get down here on my level, face to face before I pump your stomach full of lead."

Grimmjow complied stiffly, his eyes darting to every other face in the room. The rest were watching the development uneasily; Soi Fond decided that if Ggio made to kill Grimmjow she'd have to stop him, despite how much she disliked the blue haired man for what he had just done.

Rather than shooting the larger man, Ggio tightened his hand into a fist and hit Grimmjow across the jaw once he was within range.

"And as for giving up," Ggio said coldly, placing his face so that Grimmjow and he were almost nose to nose, "Maybe I have,"


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Alright guys, so, to my discredit, I am moving my policy of once-weekly publishing to whenever-the-heck-I-can because things have been insane lately. College courses in high school… let me tell you, they wreck your brain. So, I apologize once more, and feel that as a writer I am kind of letting you guys down… if you're still with me at this point, I applaud you. Thanks.**

**-MS. **

Stand Together, Stand Alone

"You need to stay still, Mr. Vega,"

"Just leave it, the rest of the stitches are fine."

"You need to take better care of yourself," the reproach in this voice was almost tangible, "And the other stitches are most certainly _not_ fine, now please let me fix the ones that broke or I will have to ask Ulquiorra to keep you still,"

The green eyed man glanced at the woman who spoke, his eyes clearly speaking for him.

"You could ask, but I will do no such thing," the Bat said distastefully.

"Ulquiorra, you're supposed to be scary and back me up!"

"Woman, if Vega desires to bleed out through his leg, then so be it. It is really no concern of ours," Ulquiorra replied coldly.

"Oh hush," Orihime huffed as Soi Fon negotiated with Ggio in fast-spoken, almost angry undertones, gesturing to his leg then jabbing a finger into his chest. With the two of them like that the dark haired man looked like a sullenly chastened child getting a lecture from his teacher. He snorted as Soi Fon led him to a chair and sat him down, only shaking his head as she whispered something in his ear; she sighed sadly, playing with his hair as he fiddled with the cross around his neck. Orihime turned back to address Ggio, "In any case, this might hurt a bit,"

"Whatever," the man replied tiredly, closing his eyes and breathing deeply through his nose.

The redheaded nurse worked in silence for a few moments, seeming to want to speak but holding her silence as Yoruichi came back into the room from fixing the door that Grimmjow had shattered off its hinges.

"Well the bastard knows how to fuck up a door, I'll give him that," the violet haired woman muttered irritably, dusting her hands off on her jeans, "But he's gone now, so I can't exactly tell him that, now can I?"

"Yes, well…." Orihime answered the woman to break the silence that had settled over the room; she cleared her throat awkwardly, not sure what to say, "In any case, Ulquiorra and I will be out of your hair soon as well,"

"Eh, you're not causing any real problems, so stay as long as you need, I guess," Yoruichi replied, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag. Orihime promptly stood up from where she had nearly finished working on Ggio, walked across the room, took the other woman's cigarette, and promptly snubbed it in one of the cock-eyed ashtrays on the bar.

"No smoking please," she said sweetly, going back to Ggio and speaking over her shoulder, "It's very bad for you, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Yoruichi snorted, crossing her arms in mild anger.

"But, aside from that, I'm done working on you, Mr. Vega," the redhead reported with a smile, standing up and tucking her medical supplies back where they had been, in a small pocket on her purse. Her white shorts had been stained with blood along the hem of the left leg, but she either didn't notice or didn't mind, "I guess we'll be going now, but first…"

The woman stepped forward and embraced Ggio; the man stood as still as a statue, the cold expression on his face not budging. Soi Fon stood by, her eyes narrowed, watching the scene with something akin to envy; upon glancing at Ulquiorra she found that the look on the Bat's face had gone from irritably passive to distinctive dislike.

"I also lost my brother right before my eyes," Orihime whispered to Ggio, "He died right there, in my arms after a car accident. After that I tried to shut myself off to stifle how much it hurt, but… don't do that. Let yourself cry. Let yourself be angry. And most importantly, don't push your friends away; you might have been alone once, but you're not anymore,"

With that she held the ochre-eyed man at arm's length, gave a sad smile, turned on heel, and left along with Ulquiorra; Soi Fon didn't miss the look that the verdant-gazed man shot at Ggio as he disappeared through the door.

"What did she say to you?" Soi Fon asked after a moment. Ggio looked at her blankly before heaving a sigh.

"Nothing, really," he said quietly, "Just… not much of anything,"

….

Ggio sat in his room, Mao in his lap and his leg throbbing like a live coal had been stitched up in his leg. A magnificent bruise had bloomed along his jaw, and his neck ached with what he thought might be whiplash, but that didn't really matter… he was fighting to keep memories at bay. It didn't really matter where he looked though, everything reminded him that Tesla and Menoly weren't coming back; a strong feeling of dichotomy had settled over him. On one hand he didn't want to remember the blonde siblings, it hurt too much… but on the other, he was afraid to forget, afraid to move forward, afraid to lose anything else.

"Shit," he cursed lowly, causing Mao to flick his black stripped ears, "Damn it all,"

Soi Fon and Yoruichi had gone to bed long ago, so he tried to keep himself under control as far as volume; it was late, and he was tired, but he was afraid to sleep.

He thought of what the redheaded woman had said to him. Let himself cry? Let himself get angry? Sure, he thought, why fucking not? But then what? You drain all of your emotion so it doesn't drive you mad, but what are you left with afterwards? An empty shell of yourself?

What other option did he have, really?

Ggio stood, dumping the cat unceremoniously out of his lap so that Mao landed on the bed with a startled mewl before blinking up at his master a bit piteously. Ggio only stared back before leaving his room.

…

The sound of breaking glass ripped Soi Fon from her slumber despite the relative quiet of the crash. She heard a thud, and then the melodic tinkling of shattered porcelain; another thud, slightly louder, and this time the definitive noise of cracking ceramic. She rolled out of bed carefully, already near certain as to what the sound was.

The silver-eyed woman crept into the hallway to see light spilling from Ggio's open door; peeking inside she say nothing but the cat coiled up on his pillow. Mao greeted her with a quiet miao, and she turned away to head downstairs. There were more sounds of shattering objects from the direction she was headed, and to her surprise, a choked, stifled sob.

Soi Fon went to the kitchen door and peered around the edge carefully, simply standing there in a tank top and a pair of pajama shorts. There, against the wall closest to her was a small pile of dish shards mingled with a couple of playing cards and a notebook, and opposite of that was Ggio. He was holding The Mug, a look of terrible indecision upon his face as he drew back his arm to throw Tesla's old possession against the wall to let it join its fellows; he dropped his arm hesitantly, gazed brokenly at the cup in his hands and replaced it gently on the cracked granite of the bar before slumping against the cupboards, sliding slowly to sit on the floor and throwing his arms up over his eyes.

"Fuck," he muttered through his tears, unaware of Soi Fon's presence, "What the fucking hell,"

The woman in the doorway crept around the slivers of glass on the floor in her bare feet, wary of getting one such shard embedded in her foot as she crossed the kitchen, heading toward the man in the chair.

"Ggio?" she called softly, and the man shifted slightly, moving one arm away from his eyes so that she could see the golden glow of his gaze in the soft kitchen light. He didn't say anything, just watching as she went and settled beside him; the two of them just stared for a minute before Soi Fon reached forward and gripped Ggio's wrists. She pulled his arms away from his face so that she could see the tears dampening his cheeks, the look of desperate sorrow in his eyes; her gaze searched his face for an instant more before she pulled him into a tight hug, holding his head against her chest and feeling hot tears soak through her thin shirt.

"You know I love you," she murmured to him, stroking his hair away from his wet face.

"Yeah," he replied hoarsely, "I know. I love you too,"

"And that I'm here for you?"

"Yeah," he repeated, more quietly, "I know… "

She thought he wanted to say more, but he held his peace; she in turn did the same so that the silence around them spiraled out into a gentle quiet that was as velvet-soft as the half-light around them. The thin brightness from the bulb in the kitchen kicked off the shards of glass on the floor and turned them to diamond, the soft _tick-tick_ing of the clock nearly matching pace with the thud of Ggio's heart as it formed a counter beat against her own…

"Ggio…" Soi Fon began again after some time; when he didn't answer, or even move, she leaned slightly to the side to see his face. His eyes were closed, tears dried on his cheeks. Thinking about it, the man hadn't slept in almost two days; the dark bags beneath his closed lids held testament to that. For the first time since the firefight Ggio was actually relaxed. Soi Fon decided to let him sleep, regardless of the fact that they were on the hardwood kitchen floor with a pile of broken glass.

"I'll always be here for you," the silver-eyed woman whispered, resting her head against the top of his, "Always."

…..

Her arm was asleep. In all honesty it felt like the underside of his skin had been lined with fishhook barbs that tingled and pricked with every movement she tried to make. Ggio was still dead to the world, though stirring gently in the morning light.

She had fallen asleep propped against Ggio at some time before dawn and woken up once the sun became brighter than the kitchen light; by her approximation it was about eight in the morning, but she couldn't be sure.

Just as she was wondering if she should try and push Ggio off of her without accidentally sending him toppling onto any of the glass that lay scattered across the floor, Mao came skittering into the room uninvited. Soi Fon's eyes widened as she watched the cat careen toward the shard-strewn portion of the kitchen; the last thing they needed right now was a trip to the vet's office to get glass pried out of an angry feline.

"No, Mao!" she hissed at the silver tabby, "No! Shoo!"

The cat gave her a defiant look, tossed his head, and pranced to where his food bowl sat in its corner. He proceeded to flip the empty bowl over with one paw, causing it to clang loudly against the wood, his tail twitching irritably. Ggio muttered something and squeezed Soi Fon's hand faintly, still asleep.

"Alright already!" Soi Fon heard from the hall as Yoruichi tramped down the stairs and into the kitchen, "Damn cat, always hungry and wh-at the fuck?"

Yoruichi stood in the doorway of the kitchen for a moment, her eyes traveling over the glass-covered floor and the two figures sitting propped against the cupboards, Ggio practically twining himself around Soi Fon, and raised one eyebrow questioningly at her friend.

"Just- it's not- look, he was upset and fell asleep," Soi Fon said pointedly to the dark skinned woman as she shook a cigarette out of its box, her eyes now averted from the two on the floor.

"Sure," she replied mildly, "But um, why are you still here?"

"What?"

"The floor," the violet haired woman clarified, "It looks pretty uncomfortable,"

"Well, my arm's asleep, but that's about it…" Soi Fon sighed as Mao meowed loudly for food once more.

"Sorry," Ggio muttered, suddenly sitting up and rubbing salt off his face with the back of his hand, "You should have just pushed me off,"

"If she had, you would have gotten glass in your face Joker," Yoruichi laughed, "Be grateful Soi Fon is benevolent,"

"Mm…. it's probably because my face is such a great point of charm," Ggio threw back, cracking a drowsy smirk; it was the first attempt at humor he had made in days.

"In a good mood?" Soi Fon asked as the ochre-eyed man stumbled to his feet and helped her up. He turned away from her to find a broom to sweep up the glass before deigning to answer.

"I decided something last night is all," he said lightly, his tones countering the soft melody of the shimmering shards as they were swept into a pile in the corner.

"Do we get to know what it is?" Yoruichi wondered, puffing smoke from between her lips that caused the cat to sneeze. This drew another small smile from Ggio as he crouched by Mao, rubbing the animal between the ears and dumping food into his bowl.

"I suppose," Ggio laughed crookedly, "I'll need your guys' help for it, after all."

"Well what's up then?"

"I decided that we have to get the jewels back no matter the cost this time," Ggio said, gaining his feet once more. The look on his face was almost gentle, a little worn, but his eyes were harder than diamond and colder than frozen alcohol, "Tesla and I started something, and I intend to finish it for him. And if we can kill that fucker Aizen while we're at it, well… all the better then."

"You're determined to do this?" Soi Fon asked.

"As hell," came the rough reply.

….

Aizen sat, eyes closed, in his room. His back was straight, his arms folded lightly in his lap, his elbows resting on the arms of his chair.

He was thinking. Thinking, thinking, always thinking. Stay one step ahead, keep forward, don't let anyone get before you, don't let anyone get behind….

Stand alone.

Sousuke Aizen's eyes snapped open to ward off the terrible, lonely flood that threatened to overtake his musings. No more. He was done with emotion, he had decided; he had already struck out on a path that no other human could follow… he would become God.

And the wonderful thing about God is that there is only one.

The man, alone there in his room struggled to contain his insane laughter.

Becoming God… what a tragic, bitter, _wonderful_ thing.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Well, prom passed last night, May the fourth, into the morning of the fifth… I had a great time, I'm super tired, but determined to finish this chapter. Also, I can now claim that I have, in fact, kissed someone. It only took me seventeen years. **

Depth

"Shit, my shoulders are so tense…" Soi Fon groaned, digging the ball of her thumb into the muscles just behind her shoulder blade; they had twisted themselves into knots and clenched tight, leading to a sore ache all across her upper back.

"You sound like an old maid," Ggio muttered distractedly as he dismantled his gun, checking the trigger for any damage, "A foul-mouthed one at that,"

"Oh, shut up," the silver eyed woman snapped, "It's _your_ fault they're like this. Who do you think I was worrying about all that time? Mao?"

"Maybe," the man replied lightly over the loud _rack_ing of his magazine sliding back into place at the heel of his palm.

Soi Fon just sighed, slumping into a chair a few feet away and closing her eyes. She was tired… her eyes snapped open again as she felt something get close to her face. She found herself nearly nose to nose with Ggio, his golden irises almost seeming to glow with amusement as he leaned in even closer and slid one of his hands across her shoulder.

"Want a massage?"

….

"Hey, Yoruichi, you ready or what?" Kisuke called through the door of the dark-skinned woman's bedroom. He'd arrived a little more than half an hour ago to pick up the violet haired woman for their date, only to find that she had been dressed in a sports bra and a pair of sweatpants. She had asked him to wait while she 'got her shit together,' in her own words, but that had been a while ago… not that he minded waiting for her, really, but it was a bit awkward for him to be simply standing in the hall by himself in a house that wasn't his own.

He heard a muffled, inarticulate reply on the other side of the door. The blonde man cocked one eyebrow questioningly to himself as he strained to understand what Yoruichi was trying to say to him, leaning closer to the door.

"Uh… yeah, okay, I'm just going to come in now," he said, opening the door. He looked up, noting Yoruichi in tight army-green jeans, combat boots and a black tee-shirt; she was holding her hair up in its usual pony-tail, a rubber band clamped between her teeth, which explained the indiscernible speech. He watched as she took the band from her mouth and used it to tie her hair in place, grabbing her wallet of the side table near her bed.

"I said I was almost ready, but I can see that you've discovered that on your own," the woman pointed out before smirking, "What would you have done if I had been… indecent?"

"Oh, I think you know very well," Kisuke answered mildly, "But let's not go into that, shall we?"

"If it bothers you," Yoruichi teased, poking Kisuke in the arm as she slipped past him into the hall, "Let's say bye to Soi Fon and Ggio before we leave…"

Kisuke followed the woman down the hall, watching the look on her face change from one of anticipated speech to confusion. She closed her mouth and lowered the hand she had been about to knock with, waving her companion over and gesturing toward the door. He leaned in, trying to hear what had caused his date's look of weirded-out puzzlement.

"I thought you said that you were well-practiced at this," the two heard Soi Fon complain, the creaking of bedsprings underscoring her voice.

"I _am_," came Ggio's defensive reply, "It's just… this would be a lot easier if you would let me take off your shirt."

"Alright, _fine_, if you really think you can't do it without the help,"

In the interceding silence, Kisuke shot a horrified glance at Yoruichi, who looked equally stunned. The two were too shocked to even move as the pair in the room again to up conversation.

"Maybe the bra too?" Ggio asked tentatively. There was a derisive snort from Soi Fon.

"Don't push your luck,"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Another pause, and Soi Fon again began speaking.

"I'm not hardly feeling anything… come on, harder," the woman pressed.

"Damn woman, calm down…"

"You're the one who offered to do this," she chided.

Kisuke again looked at Yoruichi and shook his head wildly, gesturing toward the door and then away from it in a clear message.

_We should get the fuck out of here; this is _not_ for us to listen to_.

"Oh," they heard Soi Fon gasp, "Yeah, that feels great, keep at it,"

Yoruichi threw her hands in the air at the point, looking like she wanted to bleach her brain. Kisuke tried to push away from the door to get up and leave the two room occupants with their privacy, but as he did so, he felt the door give way beneath his hand. As it hadn't been entirely closed to begin with, it swung all the way open at the sudden pressure.

On the bed sat Ggio, his legs crossed Indian-style and his braid undone in favor of a low ponytail. He had his hands up on Soi Fon's shoulders, the woman before him sitting in like manner and holding her shirt in her lap. Both of them had turned to look at the pair in the doorway like deer in headlights.

Conversely, Yoruichi was standing, eyes wide, beside half-crouched Kisuke who had frozen as the door had opened.

Mao ran through the blonde man's ankles, his bell jingling in the silence.

"Can we _help_ you?" Ggio asked after a long, awkward pause, slowly removing his hands from Soi Fon's back.

"We just wanted to uh…" Yoruichi began, looking like she couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or not.

"Tell you that we-were-going-out-bye," Kisuke finished in a rush, grabbing Yoruichi by the wrist and dragging her down the stairs and out the door, wishing very much that he could erase any and all images brought on by that extremely out-of-context conversation he had just overheard… but he wished Ggio the best of luck. If the guy was artful enough, maybe, just _maybe_ he could manage to actually get- the blonde shook his head with a sigh.

More than Ggio's luck, he wished he hadn't heard any of that.

….

Aizen stepped out of his sleek, black, bullet-proofed car in front of the bank, dressed impeccably in his pinstriped suit and perfectly shined shoes. His hair was brushed over his forehead in a somehow friendly manner, his smiling brown eyes sparkling from behind his dark-rimmed glasses.

He adjusted the pale blue tie he had selected for the day, flashing a smile at a woman who had walked out of the bank as he did so. Behind him came his small, mousy secretary, a woman called Momo Hinamori; he made small talk with her as they approached the glass doors of the city's main monetary building.

This was the persona he put out for the people. This was their savior, their hero, their destroyer of crime… but no, he wasn't destroying the crime industry, just directing it. He wasn't bringing evil down, he was allowing to grow to its full potential… but to the people, this wasn't true. To the people, he was perfect.

He had to be.

He was becoming God, after all.

"After this you have a meeting at half-past eleven," Hinamori chirped as she followed cheerfully in his wake, "And your schedule wraps up at about three. Taking an early day today, Mr. Mayor?"

"You could say that," Aizen answered mildly, giving the girl a smile. She _was_ rather like a mouse, he thought… but she had her uses. Oh yes, a great many…. And she was so devoted. If only she didn't have that irritating sense of justice, she too could be perfect, though not on the level of God, "I just felt like taking a break this afternoon. You could come along, if you like?"

"Oh!" Hinamori gasped, tugging at the sleeve of her mint-green coat and fiddling nervously with the pen behind her ear, "Oh, well, I wouldn't want to be a bother, so it's quite alright if I-"

"Please, Ms. Hinamori," Aizen laughed gently as he held the door open for the short woman, "It was an invitation."

"I-if you're sure…" the woman blushed, her dark eyes glittering with her attempt to disguise her happiness, "Then yes, I would like it very much if I could come along."

"Well that's settled then!" the man said, his footsteps echoing on the tile of the bank. There were quiet greetings from citizens all around, which he returned with a smile or polite nod as he approached the teller's window.

The bank reminded him a bit of a palace, with its white marble tile, its gold city crest hung on the wall, and the tall, carven pillars interspersed. It was a perfect setting… and so, so blessedly quiet. Silent.

Noiseless.

But even in the near soundlessness, he was drowning in voices, in thought… keep one step ahead, never let anyone before you or anyone behind.

"Good morning," Aizen greeted the older woman at the teller's desk.

"Oh, good morning Mr. Aizen!"

"Having a good day?" the man asked warmly.

"Yes, I am, thank you for asking! What kind of transaction will you be making?" The woman smiled, sweeping a strand of her dark, graying hair away from her eyes.

"A withdrawal, if you would?"

"Of course!"

Aizen stood quietly by with Hinamori, the girl still blushing furiously as the bank teller put in a series of codes that would access the account belonging to the mayor. That same silence as before settled over the building, the roar of blood building in Aizen's ears and blocking out even the _tick-tick_ing of the keyboards in the room around him as he closed his eyes.

Tranquility.

What a farce.

All around the city his men slunk even as he stood, in relative safety. Any peace he found was an illusion, he had discovered. Peace was all relative, when one thought about it, as was happiness. To bring calm to your own life was to see suffering in another. To bring joy to your own person, someone else is inevitably crushed in the process.

Ah, human nature. How wonderfully cruel it was.

"Alright Mr. Aizen, how much will you be withdrawing?"

The dark haired man snapped out of his dark reverie, blinking his eye back open. He opened his mouth to speak, temporarily put-off by the sudden contact with noise and human beings.

"I-"

A gunshot rang out suddenly, shattering the quiet, the stillness, the illusory serenity. There was a dull thud as a body slumped to the well-polished tiles of the bank, and Aizen whirled to see a trio of armed men in masks enter through the shimmering glass doors.

"Aright!" the first man, the one who had killed the person near the door, shouted over the whimpers and soft screams of shocked people, "I think everybody here knows what we want. Get on the fucking ground or we'll blow your brains out."

Hinamori dropped, nerveless, to the ground, her eyes wide with terror. She was trembling, Aizen noted as he sank more slowly into a crouch on the floor. The gun-toting idiots were walking directly toward him, and he knew what would happen if he was seen.

The men of the underworld knew what he controlled. They wouldn't pass up the opportunity to put a bullet through his skull. He man to move, but too late, as the man who had spoken before cried out in jubilation, swinging his gun around to point it at Aizen.

"What a stroke of good luck!" he crowed to his companions, "If it ain't the mayor himself! Whadaya think we could get for him? More than what's in this dump of a bank, I think…?"

"For sure," the second man laughed, "After all, isn't this the people's _hero_?"

"Rather than taking him, why not just kill the fucker? Kill the people's hero, right here…." the third, previously silent man put out, "I mean, we'll get plenty of dough from this, but killing someone of _his _status is a once in a life time chance for pipsqueaks like us. The boss'd be happy, at least."

"Right…" the first man, the apparent leader replied thoughtfully, taking another step forward, gun in hand, "Well you know, _Mr. Mayor, _you might be everyone else's _savior_, but for people like us? You ain't nothin' but a nuisance. You could still bring us money though, so don't do anything stupid. I think we'll just take you to the boss and let _him_ decide what gets done with you."

"I won't let you take Mr. Aizen!" Hinamori squeaked suddenly, scrambling in front of her boss. She was still shaking, tears running down her terrified features. The first man laughed again and leveled his gun at Hinamori.

"Fine, bitch, you wanna play like that?" the second man snarled, "We'll kill you first, and then everyone else in this room. What'll you do about that, you disgusting pet of the government, Mr. Sousuke Aizen?"

"Wait!" Aizen snapped, taking to his feet, "If you're really that intent on killing me, then just get it over with. There's no reason to involve these other people."

"What, don't want to have to watch the show? Probably don't have enough balls, I'd say," the third man put in lazily.

Aizen turned to look at Hinamori, putting apology in his eyes though he felt nothing of the sort. He saw her eyes widen as she realized what he was about to do, opened her mouth to protest, but too late.

Aizen threw himself forward, tackling the second man and kicking out at the first.

"Run, Hinamori!" he cried, twisting around to grapple with the third man, who had been taken off guard. The first masked marauder had lost his gun to Aizen's flailing, the second man was unable to move his arms, but there was still the third…. Deciding not to take the time to shoot, he slammed the butt of his gun down on Aizen's head.

The mayor stumbled back a bit, dazed.

There was a gunshot from the freed second and Aizen slumped to the floor.

"Well _fuck_," the first man cursed, having retrieved his gun. The weapon had lain near Hinamori, but the girl was in shock, unable move. Her tremors had locked her limbs and her mind, rendering her immobile. The other people in the room had either fled or ducked behind desks, "There goes that, I guess…"

"We can still take the body," the second man pointed out.

"True," the first muttered, "Aright, pick that sack of shit up."

"Money in the bag, whore," the third man was heard saying to a weeping teller.

"Let's go!" the second man cried to the third, Aizen's body slung over his broad shoulders with some difficulty, "Take what you have, and let's split. The cops will have fun with this, I think."

"Yeah, yeah," the third man answered with a snort, walking to where Hinamori sat, sobbing now, "But first, a present for the little bitch here…"

With that, he put a bullet through her stomach and left with his money.

…

"That's going to bruise. Couldn't you have been a bit farther away?"

"Sorry boss, but we had to make it look realistic."

"True enough. It went well, I think," Aizen said mildly, pulling his stained shirt back down over the circular bruise left from the blood-packet that had been fired at him at close-range from the second man's fake gun. Aizen's own blood had filled the packet to throw off the detection of his falsehood, "Although it was a bit dramatic for my taste,"

"You do have a bit of a flare for drama though, dontcha?" Gin asked from the seat across from Aizen. The two were situated in the back of a windowless van that advertised plumbing equipment. In the front rode the first and second men, Nirgge and Nakeem; in the back, lounging with Aizen and Gin was the third man, Abirama.

"Perhaps a bit," Aizen sighed, "But I think it comes with the territory. When you become God, people expect miracles."

"Ain't that the truth," the fox-like man grinned. Aizen gave no answer, only returning with a small smile of his own.

Stay one step ahead, he thought. Always, always one step ahead.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: I have been veritably **_**languishing**_** under the yoke of writer's block. Usually I can turn out about 4,000 words a day, but this piece of crap took me forever. **

Collision

"Aizen's dead,"

The words fell hard and cold in the taproom early on a Thursday morning at the beginning of November. The very air seemed to freeze for a moment as if the world couldn't believe what Ggio had just read from the front page of the newspaper, and even the driving wind outside seemed to stop for a second.

"Dead?" Soi Fon repeated.

"Yeah," Ggio confirmed, sounding shocked even though the stony tone of his voice. He was scanning the page rapidly, his ochre eyes flicking back and forth across columns of writing. The large black-and-white photo that took up the top half of the page showed a young woman being taken out of the city bank on a stretcher, her face artfully covered by the back of a paramedic.

"How?" Yoruichi asked, "I thought he was supposed to be the invincible, calculating leader of the Espada?"

"He was," Ggio answered slowly, narrowing his eyes, "Which is why I don't really want to believe this… something seems off. Aizen was never this careless… or this selfless. It says he just rolled up on the bank with his secretary, and then used his body as a shield for her when the place got jacked. She still got shot though, so his sacrifice didn't make a difference"

"Do they have a body? You can't argue with solid proof," the dark skinned woman pointed out, tugging one of her long sleeves down lower over her wrist.

"No," Soi Fon answered for Ggio, reading the paper over his shoulder, "They say his body was taken by the killers,"

"I don't like this," Ggio mutter uneasily, "It's too simple, too _easy_…"

"Hey," Yoruichi laughed, poking Ggio in the shoulder with an expression akin to false bravado, "Look at it this way, at least we'll be able to get those jewels, right?"

"I suppose," the dark haired man conceded, looking ill-temperedly at the paper, "But I hope that son of a bitch died a slow, painful death. That bastard may be rotting in hell as we speak, but that doesn't make me hate him any less."

…..

Ulquiorra sat stock-still, gazing ahead with his face perfectly blank. There was nothing to even say to the level of insane intelligence that resided within the skull of Aizen Sousuke. A pariah he might be because of it, but that didn't matter to him. He was one who would even pride himself on his inability to function on the same level of other humans, Ulquiorra thought.

The man had faked his death to back out of his job as mayor; a simple resignation would never do, no, not for Aizen… the man had made it appear that he had died a martyr's death. In doing so he had immortalized his reputation among the people in the city, keeping them under his control, even 'posthumously'.

But none of them had been told. Not a single one of the eight remaining Espada had been alerted to what Aizen would be doing.

It was infuriating.

The man himself was seated at the head of the table as if nothing had happened, dressed in a white oxford and dark slacks, a mug of coffee in one hand. On his right sat the fox-faced Gin in a gray-blue hoodie and jeans, on his left was the blind Tousen in sunglasses and sweater; the silver haired man's grin widened slightly as he caught the look on Ulquiorra's face.

"Somethin' wrong, Schiffer?" the fox asked cheerfully.

"No," the bat replied in a voice that was infinitely flat, "Nothing,"

But that was a load of shit, and everyone in the room knew it.

"_Why_ weren't we told anything?!" Yammy suddenly burst out, gaining his feet so that his huge form took up part of the back wall. Aaroniero flinched away from the giant at the motion, wincing as he spoke again, "This was something important! We're supposed to be the lead beneath you! Why wouldn't tell us what you were going to do?"

"Sit down, Yammy," Aizen smiled calmly, "I'll tell you exactly why none of you were informed about my decision to step down from my mayoral position, if you're willing to listen,"

The large man dropped ill-temperedly back into his chair, obviously still fuming. Grimmjow sneered at him, obviously irritated at the level of noise brought with the man's outburst.

"I think that, somewhere in this room, there is a rat," Aizen said pleasantly.

There was dead silence in which Szayel looked at Ulquiorra from the corner of his eye. The Bat shook his head almost imperceptibly, silently demanding that the crazed doctor not point fingers at either he or Grimmjow.

"Like… like a leak, espionage for the other side, or…" Aaroniero wondered.

"If you ask if he means a real rat, I will beat your fucking face in you damned idiot," Grimmjow snarled; the sudden accusation brought by Aizen seemed to have shaken him, "Obviously he means someone who's not loyal to the organization!"

"Very astute," the leader of the Espada purred smoothly, "That is indeed what I mean. I don't know who it is yet, but it _is _someone in this room."

More silence. Aizen turned his dark gaze to the inside of his cup where he was swirling the remains of his coffee. The other occupants of the table exchanged nervous, wary glances with one another, some with accusation and others with fear in their shifting eyes.

"Oh, how like the Last Supper this is," Aizen laughed into the silence, "When Jesus announced that he knew which of the others at his table would betray him to the law! Now…. Which one of you is my 'Judas'?"

….

"You still want to go through with this?" Soi Fon asked Ggio softly, lacing her fingers through his across the table top. He nodded, eyes thoughtful.

"Yeah," he replied with a sad attempt at a laugh, "I mean, even if Aizen's dead, we can still take the jewels and make ourselves a nice little life, right?"

"That's not really why you want to do this, is it?" the woman queried, her voice quieter as she understood the motivation behind him, "You want to finish this for Tesla."

"For him…" Ggio sighed, "But not just for that. Aizen might be gone, but his organization is still alive and kicking… I'll be shocked if at least one of them doesn't try to finish what that fucker started."

"You're probably right, Joker," Yoruichi yawned, "But what are we going to do about getting the loot? I've already been arrested over there once; I don't really want a repeat."

"Last time we used Tes to shut down the security… obviously we can't do that this time,"

"We could always find someone else," Yoruichi grinned widely.

"You've got someone in mind?" Soi Fon asked warily, quirking an eyebrow at her friend. The dark skinned woman's smile only got wider.

"I bet we could get Kisuke to do it. He'd pretty good with stuff like that,"

"If you say so," Ggio replied, waving the issue aside, "I think, at this point, we just run it like Tes and I did last time- get in after a security hack, get the stuff, get out. Nice and simple."

"And if we can't get the security down?" Yoruichi wondered.

Ggio shrugged.

"We do it the old-fashion way,"

…..

Ggio sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees with his wrists dangling between them, head bowed. His braid had swung over his shoulder and swayed almost as though it was alive, the tip moving in time to his breathing. Mao trotted over and began to weave his way around his master's ankles, his purr vibrating up the man's calf, but Ggio took almost no notice.

The run this time wasn't going to be easy. Of course, not many thieves found their work easy, but stealing from the city museum was going to be especially hard this time. Who was to say that Aizen hadn't had the gems switched out with fakes and kept the real loot somewhere else? It didn't seem like something he would do- he would want to keep his wealth on display and gloat.

No, he would do something like stock security.

Ggio could practically _feel_ it… the place would be positively crawling with things meant to keep dishonest workers like him out. Possibly things that they couldn't get around on their own, but it was something that had to be done.

At almost any cost this time.

It was no longer about stopping Aizen from wiping the city free of inhabitants- no, it was much more personal now. Of course getting to play the anti-hero was always fun, but Ggio was in it for the kill now. Aizen might have been already taken to hell, but his fucking organization was still had two head henchmen, one as sly as their master and the other as cruel.

Whoever took the top, it wouldn't be pretty.

The dark haired man heaved a sigh, causing his braid to twitch. Mao looked up sharply, mewled, and then leapt up, hooking his claws through Ggio's plait and jerking the man's head down sharply.

"Ow!" he cried, flailing for a moment before grabbing the kitten and lifting the thing off the floor and placing the tabby in his lap, laughing despite his harsh words as the animal blinked large, innocent amber eyes at him, "Damn cat!"

After a moment quiet was restored and he relapsed into brooding silence, rubbing Mao between his soft silvered ears. There was nothing to be done anymore, no going back, only stepping forward and-

Ggio halted even breathing as he heard a low sound from Soi Fon's room. He waited- there, again. A soft, choked sound, like a sob almost. But that was ridiculous; Soi Fon _never_ cried… what was she doing then?

The black haired man lifted the cat out of his lap and stood, cross lightly to the door before slipping into the corridor between the two rooms. He paused just before crossing into her room, hesitating. How would she react to him? Worse, how would _he_ react to _her_? What if she _was_ crying? He was a dude for fuck's sake, he didn't know how to _comfort_ people!

Her sob broke his freeze; who gave a damn? If he didn't know what to say, he'd just hold her, he supposed. He couldn't leave her to cry alone though…. He just couldn't. He pushed open the door gently, allowing light from the bathroom to spill over into Soi Fon's room for a moment before he closed the space behind himself. He had seen the woman hunched on the bed stiffen at his arrival, but here in the darkness he could only hear her muted breathing.

He made his way over to the bed by memory and sat on the edge of it, his weight bending the mattress down; he heard Soi Fon give a small gasp as she felt herself first tilted, then wrapped in Ggio's arms.

There was a long silence as Ggio simply held her there in the darkness, dusting a light kiss against her jaw before he spoke.

"If there's something I can do… _anything_… I mean, you don't have to tell me what's wrong if you don't want to, but if it's something I can_ fix_…" he murmured close to her ear, and she shifted to drag her sleeve across her eyes.

"It's not really anything you could help with," Soi Fon whispered back, "It's something that already happened… a long, long time ago."

_A time when I had family and a name that belonged to them_, she finished mentally.

"Then I'll just be here for you," Ggio said softy, "I'll just be here for you, like you were for me."

There was a long silence… it wasn't uncomfortable, though; it was a warm, fairly peaceful silence broken only by Soi Fon's sniffling.

"One of us… could die tomorrow," the woman said suddenly, clutching Ggio's arm closer to her as if to hold his embrace to her, though he made no move to release her.

"Don't say that," he murmured, leaning closer to speak directly into her ear.

_I must be some sort of fuckin' masochist… her being so close is already killing me, and I just got closer. Shit._

"But it's true!" she cried, "It could be like before… at the prison, when you… I wouldn't have said anything then, but I was scared! I was scared that you would die because of me-"

Ggio gave a slightly feral smirk as she twisted around to look at him, fear and shame and sorrow all mixed up in her gaze. She cut off as she noticed the look he was giving her, gasping as he pulled her tight against his body and pressed his mouth to hers in a fierce kiss. He rolled her over then, so that she was on her back in the bed and he was propped over her, his ochre eyes gleaming above her silvered brown in the darkness.

"If that's how you feel about it," he said roughly, "Then we best make the most of our time, right?"

"Ggio-"

"You don't want to?" he asked, getting closer to her so that his braid brushed against her cheek softly. She responded to his question by reaching up and holding his face, her fingers running down the hard line of his jaw; his wild feline features tensed as she did so, his eyes growing bright by the shaft of moonlight that slanted through the window.

"I do want to," she whispered shyly, "It's just…. I've never done anything like this before…"

"All the better then," Ggio replied in hushed tones. Soi Fon smiled tearfully up at him, pulling him down into another kiss. She felt her pulse quicken and felt Ggio's breath against her cheek as he began placing small kisses down her jaw. She breathed in sharply at his touch, gripping his shirt between her fingers.

Ggio pulled back to look at her; she couldn't see much of his face in the darkness, but she easily recognized the pale gleam as he flashed her a grin.

"For someone who hasn't done this before, you sure know how to tempt…" he smiled, "A natural-born seductress?"

Soi Fon gave a quick, breathless laugh, running her hands through his hair, or what portions of it were left free of the tight plait.

"Maybe so," she answered. She was acutely aware of her every action, her every sensation, her every feeling.

She was very aware of the fact that she loved the man above her…. And that he loved her in return. Something that no one had ever, _ever_ done for her before.

For once the darkness wasn't cold or threatening; for now that darkness was something she could survive in…. as long as he was by her side.

…..

Ggio lay awake for a long time after, stroking Soi Fon's hair as she lay beside him, sleeping deeply. The tears had long dried from her face, but Ggio couldn't help thinking that what she had been weeping about was something as deep as his own troubles from the past.

He glanced at the clock- it was two in the morning.

He turned his gaze back to the pitch-black ceiling and returned to his thoughts.

_She's right. One of us could die today._

He paused for half a second before coming to a decision; he wouldn't allow that to happen. Not today, and not for a long time to come.


	35. Chapter 35

**NOTICE**

**So… I hate to do this to you guys, but… I'll be living with my grandparents for the next month, maybe longer. What does this have to do with anything, you ask? **

**My grandparents don't have internet. No internet? No chapters. **

**I'm going to go die in a hole now.**

**On a random side-note, I've diagnosed Tesla with Stockholm Syndrome… hence his freakish servitude to Nnoitra.**

**I should say, I suppose, that there is a slight chance of being able to post the chapters when I head into town… so I'll try. I'm just letting you all know so you hate me **_**maybe**_** a bit less when I come back. **

**Thanks for understanding! **

**-MS. **


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